Thursday, January 31, 2008

Climbing Boy.

In the past few weeks, Tate has learned how to climb. He climbs a lot. He climbs everything. He's quite proud of this fun new talent.
Me? Not so much. Tate has figured out how to push chairs around the kitchen and climb up onto the counters. Yeah.

Friday, January 18, 2008

School.

And so it begins. The Great Preschool Hunt of '08. Honestly? I'm just shocked that my baby girl is old enough for me to be spending the morning on the phone talking to preschools about her possible fall attendance there. It's kind of surreal.

And yeah. It's really not that much of a hunt. But anything sounds cooler and more important with a "great", "hunt" and "'08" in it...right?

Monday, January 14, 2008

Sarah.

I have a friend named Sarah. We met while living in the great city of Scranton (The Office! Seriously. Watch this show. Go out, rent the seasons. Aw heck. Call me. I own the DVD's and will happily share with any of you the pure joy that is The Office), and we became fast friends. (Well, she absolutely initiated our friendship. It may not have moved so fast if it wasn't for her very determined drive to make friends. As you may know, I'm totally cool with just living in my hermit bubble...) Sarah came right up to me after church one day and said "I need your number." She called me that week, invited me out to dinner, and informed me that she had locked herself out of her house, so if I could come, like, now, it would be good. I rescued her from a Donut Zone (Was that the name?) parking lot a few minutes later, and we went out to eat. A friendship was born over Indian food, lost keys, cloves, many dinners, time killing in the church bathroom, dripping non-drip candles, free furniture, and one very interpretive dance to all things Rick Warren. (40 Days of Purpose lends itself to much mocking. It's a good program...but yeah. Much mocking.)

Sarah is wonderfully quirky (A good quirky. Like totally cool and fun!), she's funny, beautiful and smart. She's an amazing mother, and is passionate about her faith and her family. She's married to a really great guy who obviously loves her and their children. I think he's awesome.

Oh. And she had a nose ring first.

Anyway. Over the years, we've had some kids and moved to a few different locations. We no longer live as close as we once did. However, I so wish we did. Because...

Sarah claims that this is missing from her life. Yeah. Well, this is missing from mine. My word. I would so be there, spinning on the quarter hour with you.

Miss you.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

My husband.

I've been trying to get ready for our kids birthday party this weekend, and so I've been going through old pictures in the hopes of finding some cute ones of the kids to create a slide show with. In the process of doing that, I stumbled across this one. Yeah. Those are earrings in his ear(s). They didn't last long...I much prefer the tattoos! Anyway. It's quite possibly my favorite wedding picture of ours.

Man. I love him!


Yep.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Gravy covered French Fries.

I had a coffee date with a woman from our church Tuesday night. I let Tucker take the kids home and do the whole bedtime routine after Ignite, and I headed out for some fun! (It should be noted here that Tucker does the bedtime routine almost every night. He rocks. So really, this was nothing for him. But I still appreciate it!)

Dawn and I don't know each other well. We've had many friendly chats, we always say "hello" when passing, we randomly comment on each others blogs, and I've really come to love her daughters who attend our Tuesday night event. But I've never spent much time with her one on one just getting to know her heart. It was really nice to have a chance to do that!

Dawn, thank you for opening up with me about your life, your joys and your sorrows. I'm privileged to know you. And thanks for the coffee!

Oh. And Dawn introduced me to French Fries smothered in gravy and covered with cheese. Did you all hear that? Smothered in gravy. Covered with cheese. My word. She's a good woman. (I have found, though my Google Image searching, that this wonderful food is known as Poutine. Tasty stuff, that. However, it doesn't look tasty. So, no pictures. Sorry.)

Anyway. Now Dawn is my gravy covered girlfriend. With cheese. (See this post for "Covered Friendships" information.)

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Mindless, yet fun.

In the spirit of the laziness that is today, I've decided to waste my time in a very fun way.

I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up five items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments. What is it?
1. Produce: Apples. The green sour ones.
2. Bakery: Um. Anything? Okay, okay...cupcakes. With much frosting.
3. Meat: Chicken breasts.
4. Frozen: Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. Or corn dogs. I love a good corn dog.
5. Dry goods: Kix cereal. Very much so "Mother Approved" in this house.

Let's say we're heading out for a weekend getaway. You're only allowed to bring three articles of clothing with you. So, what's in your bag?
1. Jeans.
2. A t-shirt.
3. Undergarments. Hm. But no shoes...can I bring four items?

If I was to listen in on one of your conversations throughout the day what five phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?
1. So.
2. Seriously.
3. You were, like...
4. Trust me.
5. Rory! Stop sitting on your brother!

So, what three things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn't get to do, you probably wouldn't be in the best mood?
1. Taking a shower.
2. Hugging, kissing and/or cuddling with these people living in my house.
3. Talking to my mom/friends.

Somebody stole your purse/wallet. In order to get it back, you have to name five things you know are inside to claim it. So, what's in there?
1. Diapers. (What? It's my diaper bag, too!)
2. My wallet.
3. My cellphone.
4. Make-up.
5. Sippy cups.

You just scored a whole afternoon to yourself. We're talking an eight hour block with nobody around. What five activities might we find you doing?
1. Sitting in stunned amazement that I actually have 8 hours alone...
2. Shopping. I would so go shopping by myself.
3. Reading a book. You know, one with chapters and stuff.
4. Eating my own food. All of it. By myself.
5. Actually, I would probably find my husband and spend that time, child-free, with him!

You are at a job fair, and asked what areas you are interested in pursuing a career in. Let's pretend you have every talent and ability to be whatever you wanted, so what four careers would be fun for you?
1. A kindergarten teacher.
2. A musician.
3. A chef. (Ha! I know! I don't even like to cook. But man. Imagine if I could cook amazing things...I would love it! I think...)
4. A pediatrician.

You're going to the zoo. But, it looks like the weather may get bad, so it'll have to be a quick visit. What three exhibits do you have to get to?
1. The elephants.
2. The reptile house.
3. The monkey's. Don't tell Tucker that, though. He thinks I hate 'em. Really? I just want to get moving. He'd spend all day there if he could looking at those monkeys. I like them at first. Yes. They're cute. And yes. So human-like. Oh yes...so funny too. I did. I saw that. Funny stuff. Can we go now?

You just scored tickets to the taping of any show that comes on TV of your choice. You can pick between four, so what are you deciding between?
1. The Office.
2. Project Runway. ( I will admit that this one was a toss-up between PR and America's Next Top Model. I do love me some cheesy reality tv. My "serious" side won out today.)
3. Survivor.
4. Saturday Night Live.

You're hungry for ice cream. I'll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What three flavors can I pile on for you?
1. Mint Chocolate Chip.
2. Vanilla.
3. Heath Bar Crunch.

Winter?

People. It is going to be 67 degrees out today.

67 degrees.

I may have to pull the flip flops out from the back of my closet. I mean, anything over 50 is so totally flip flop weather!

Monday, January 7, 2008

Chewy.

Every now and then Tate will come up to me chewing away on something (Like, oh, a tinfoil wrapper from the handfuls of Hershey Kisses Tucker and I stuffed our faces wi...er...ate a few of last night. Yeah. I must've missed a wrapper when cleaning 'em up). I pry the non-edible object from his slimy little mouth and chubby (and usually sticky) little fists and am relieved to have caught that one!

But then. Then I get this crazy fear: What has he swallowed that I've missed?!?! I mean, I must've missed something at some point. I'm not watching like a hawk every single second. And he's fast. And he puts everything in his mouth. And then that fear consumes me for a few minutes. My brain goes to some scary places.

I'm going to guess that it's just normal panicky mom feelings. Please tell me I'm not alone with my Random Mom Freak-Outs!

Hm. Sometimes, I worry that I may worry too much...


Thursday, January 3, 2008

Tattooed Tucker.

So. After much talking, thinking, searching and saving (and one very generous Christmas gift from some dear friends), Tucker finally got his tattoo.

Awesomeness.

Derek Webb.

Have you heard of him? He used to be in a group called Caedmon's Call. (And I'm ashamed to admit that Tucker and I loved that group so much that had Rory been a boy...she may have been called Caedmon. Ouch, right? Caedmon? Cave man? Yeah...) I'm not always nuts about how his music sounds, but I love what it says. He's a powerful songwriter, and takes traditional (In a negative way. Trust me. I understand the importance and value of tradition. I just hate when it's done because "It's always been done that way". Have some meaning behind your tradition, you know?), rigid Christianity head on. Gotta love that.

This morning, I was listening to his CD, Mockingbird. The following lyrics really stood out to me. I love this quote.

"There are two great lies that I’ve heard:
'The day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die'
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him."
-A King and a Kingdom

Yeah. This registered Democrat (*collective Conservative Christian gasp* There. I said it. There's reasons for it, but not ones I'm going to post and debate about on my blog. The reasons aren't big enough or important enough for the drama that politics cause.) truely believes that there's not only one way to act once you're saved. Is there only one Way, one Truth? Absolutely. But I highly doubt God created us to be clones of each other. Why is it so many Christians try to force new (or old, even) believers into their "Box o' Christianity"? Why is it that we judge anyone not like us?

Trust me. I'm guilty here. I thought I had my "Christian Box" nice and neat. I knew exactly how people who claimed Christ should act, think, speak and live. Hm. Well holy crap. I was wrong about so much of that! It took many embarrassing moments, many eye opening experiences, and much prayer to come to where I am today. I'm beyond grateful to God for that. I shudder when I think of how judgmental I once was. I shudder to think of how judgmental I still am. It's a daily walk, a daily struggle. One I'm not ashamed to admit to. Heck. I'm a work in progress! I have a feeling it'll never be done! Good thing, 'cause I can't imagine not needing Him.

And I'm not believing those lies.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Quotes and music.

For some reason, recently, I keep hearing quotes and music that really touch me. Things that stick with me and make me think. I like to think. At least I think I like to think...

Anyway. The next few blog posts may be about songs I like and quotes I've stumbled across. Maybe. Maybe not. (Ha! Now I've got you wondering if I will or if I won't. I'm tricky like that...)

While reading Waking the Dead with our old small group, the following quote really stuck with me. I recently picked the book back up for some light reading (Oh. Okay. Bathroom reading. Come on. You know you do it too.), and was hit all over again by the power behind it.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” -Nelson Mandela

Good stuff right there. And so very true.