I Have a Crush

If you have a significant other is it wrong to have a crush? I think I might. Have a crush. According to one online resource I probably have a crush if I:

• Try to find reasons to spend time with _____
• Feel nervous or my heart skips a beat when around _____
• Talk to  my friends about _____
• Think about _____ at random moments
• Remember incidents or moments I've spent with _____
• Act differently with _____ than with any other
• Get jealous or upset when someone else spends time with _____

Oh dear. It's true. I think I totally have a crush on my minivan. Yup. I love it. I love almost everything about it. 

Admittedly I was doomed from the start. It has automatic doors that open at the push of a button! I'm dead serious! It has a fancy little plug-in for my iPod. It has 8 re-positional seats--a dream for a picky/indecisive gal. The interior is grey. Not. Tan. Yummy.

I could go on. And on. But I swear I didn't know about the crush. You're right. I probably should have figured it out a long time ago. When you find yourself doing things like this, you're most likely whipped. 

Now, the question is, what do I tell my husband? He might get suspicious and wonder why I am spending all this time with the minivan...or why I made that mix CD...

Oh SNAP!

Every once in a while I am caught off guard and surprised by the kindness of others.

Tonight (or, to be more precise, this morning) for example: At midnight Ian flies into the airport finishing up a tiring 3-day trip. He is anxious to get home. It is at this point that he realizes he has left his jacket on the airplane he swapped out in Los Angeles. No biggie, right? Oh wait...his car keys just happened to be tucked safely in the pocket of said jacket. Crap!

He calls to tell me that he won't be able to make it home tonight because, let's be honest, why in the world would we wake up three little ones to take them on an annoying ride to pick up their (surprisingly) air-headed father? We wouldn't. And, thankfully, I'm not dumb enough to leave them.

Random First Officer to the rescue: As Ian is lamenting his situation and vainly searching for other pilots driving south he is offered a lifeline. A fellow pilot who lives in Seattle just happens to have a car at the airport. "Hey Ian, why don't you just take my car?"

Seriously? We are saved. I can almost hear the grateful snoring of friends and neighbors ignorant to the fact that I almost made the call...even at midnight. 

Thank you, whoever you are! We're going to have to be creative to pay this one forward.

Outside

Little Curtis has recently discovered the outdoors. His curiosity for the big world on the other side of our door has been piqued and, I'm afraid, there is no stopping him. No matter what I do to distract him he still knows that somewhere there are rocks to be eaten, grass to be eaten, bugs to be...well, you get the idea. 

Today while the older kids played "movie theater" in the house I decided to let Curtis loose in the yard. He was in heaven. First question: What's with boys and rocks? First thing he did was grab one in both hands and smile like he'd hit the big time.

Once we made it to the front yard he somehow figured out that there was a dog just around the fence...and he made a break for it. Luckily he isn't too speedy yet and I was able to stop him before he crawled through heaven-knows-what and got scared by our slightly protective neighbor dog. Here he is trying to ditch me again...he knows the camera slows me down a bit.

I have a feeling we are going to be spending a lot of time outside this summer. Oh boy.

Wedding Photography Take One

I did something crazy! With ulcer-like clenching of the stomach I agreed to take my neighbor's wedding pictures. Just a few days shy of the big day her previously-arranged photographer had to back out. Someone out there (Kristin!) apparently decided that since I had new camera I must know what I'm doing. Ha. Ha. I repeat: Ha.

Upon giving Mandi the "okay, I'll do it" I made the mistake of calling my brother (an extremely gifted photographer) and was soon overwhelmed and shaking in my boots. Luckily I was able to talk Holly C. into bailing me out and playing the role of Photographer # 2. (Between you and me, she was actually Photographer # 1...I've always made a better assistant than anything else.)

With an amazing lack of knowledge we set out to do the impossible. It was a lot of work, but by the end of the day I felt it was possible we weren't taking the worst pictures in the world and might even have one or two that turn out. 

Here are a couple of my favorites. It helps when your subject is beautiful and photogenic. 

 

Congratulations Mandi! Thank you for trusting us with such a responsibility. It was such a learning experience for us and we thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Freedom

A quick update: This afternoon I went to the grocery store BY MYSELF. I have to be honest and admit that I wondered aimlessly for several minutes enjoying the peace and quiet (it's all relative) of a shopping trip sans children.

Oh, and my fat lip has returned to normal. Phew!

Smile! I Love You.

By 4:30pm this evening I had:

• Canned 47 cans of food storage
  
• Opened and re-canned 10 cans of food storage (crap!)
• Cleaned baby puke out of my van
• Fed ungrateful and picky children lunch
• Cleaned baby puke off my kitchen floor
• Separated two girls from a death-match fight...twice
• Sent aforementioned girls to Time Out...I lost count how many times.
• Bundled three ornery children, against their will, into the van for a much-needed Costco trip
• Lost Ellie at Costco for a few minutes because she "needed to pee" (yes, again...just not for long)
• Endured multiple LOUD temper tantrums while at Costco
• Refrained from yelling at my children at Costco
• Received a fat lip from my eldest child amid a flailing tantrum at Costco
• Refrained from spewing profanity at the top of my lungs at Costco
• Assured several concerned Costco customers that the SCREAMING BANSHEE child in the bathroom was actually okay...just didn't want to wipe her own behind
• Listened to weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, and additional banshee-like screaming once my children learned they were not receiving their good-behavior-prize of a smoothie at Costco
• Turned around once we reached the door to have a Costco supervisor adjust my receipt for an error (and receive several patronizing remarks from grumpy employee)
• Finally made it out the door and to the van only to have my 3 year old try and lock me out (ha, ha...I have keys)

It was then that I received a text from my sweet husband that said, "Smile! I love you." 

I admit...it helped. A little. Smiling was a little difficult with my fat lip, but I thought about it.

I need a vacation.

A Day at the Park

Oh how I love Spring. Just the thought of it makes me smile. Yup, here I am...smiling. To myself. (Sigh).

We took the crew over to the park the other day and basked in the sunshine as we careened wildly through the playground. Ah...joy!

As we got home Lindy said, "Mom...I think we should do that every day!"

Wouldn't that be nice?

Happy 36th!

Today is my birthday.

Here's a little known fact: it's also my husbands' birthday. While this eliminates the risk of either one of us forgetting each other's birthday there are a couple of cons that come along with sharing the big day. For example, who plans the party? Who cooks breakfast in bed? Who takes the kids? Who gets the day off? Tough decision.

For the most part we've just handled our birthday like any other day. And this has worked well for us. This year, however, I wanted to celebrate Ian's birthday as much as possible...he's a great husband and father and deserves a little time in the spotlight.

With this goal in mind I put the gears in motion to have a surprise get-together planned for Saturday evening. And I was excited. Ian, however, seemed to be doing everything possible he could to thwart my plans. He woke up that morning with an itch for home-repair and decided that our "free" Saturday was a perfect day to paint our master bathroom. How could I say no without risking all my carefully-laid plans? But how could I spend all the time painting without risking my party-preparation time? Conundrum.

Luckily it all worked out. I was able to paint the bathroom, persuade him to shower, get him out of the house (thanks, Aaron), and get everything taken care of for dinner just in time. With help from family and friends we were set for the "surprise" by the time he walked in the door that evening. Phew!

We had a blast! It was a great dinner and we had so much fun visiting and laughing. It was nice to have an evening to celebrate Ian. Happy birthday, Ian! I love you.

Drumroll Please

After some nerve-wracking technical difficulties (I lost my blog for a while) we finally have a winner! (Sorry for the delay.)

For an unbiased result I employed the services of my 6 year-old in the drawing process.

And the winner is....

Congrats Rochelle! Hopefully you can curl up with this book and ignore the snowy Oregon winter that is still lingering. :) It's on it's way!

It's a Giveaway!

It's been a long winter. I'm not a fan of cold weather and being cooped up in the house isn't easy for me. I've been trying to think of something to add a little excitement to my life and I finally decided that I'd do a giveaway on my blog. And, of course, my favorite thing in the world to give to people? Books. (My nerdiness abounds.)

Up for grabs this month is my 2008 Christmas gift of choice and a book that I've recommended to almost everyone I know. It's entertaining, uplifting, and one I think everyone should have on their shelf.

Just leave a comment with your name and where you're from. The drawing will end Sunday (March 8th) at 8:00pm. I'll announce the winner Monday morning and ship it out...just in time for St. Patrick's Day!

Good luck!

Eleven Months

Eleven months later and our family is still absolutely in love with this little guy. He has been such a ray of sunshine!

This month has been full of personality. He has learned to throw little tantrums and, unfortunately for him, we just think they are the funniest things. He is still climbing all over the place. He loves to climb...stairs, drawers, people. He has even made it in the bathtub a couple times. Due to his adventurous nature, however, he has also fallen several times. It looks like we'll just have to get used to a black and blue forehead for a while. Poor kid.

He is not walking yet (thank heavens) but he is also quite demanding about being held. Sometimes I don't mind...none of my kids have been super cuddly and I like it when they want to be in my arms.

We are on our way to his first birthday. It's so hard to believe how quickly this year has flown by. Before you know it he'll be asking for the keys to the car. Sheesh.

Grandma

My dad's mom passed away last Sunday at the age of 90. She has been through plenty of hardship over the last several years, physically and mentally, and it has been something of a relief to know that she's finally free from the exhaustion of this earthly life.

Grandma had a tough exterior. I've often felt that I never really knew her. By the time I grew out of all my adolescent quirkiness and wanted to learn a little about her she had lost most of her strength for life...and I had lost an opportunity to learn.

As I've thought about her this last week, however, I realized something I hadn't before. Each of us are chock-full of those personalities, idiosyncrasies, and behaviors that were originally born within those who come before us. I do know her, at least a little, because part of her lives on in me. There are a couple personality traits that I can attribute to (or blame on) grandma: The OCD tendencies which afflict me (and cheer me at the same time) have a strong foundation in grandma. My family's habit of repeating words or phrases two or more times (you all know you do it too) can be credited to her as well.

Strange. But oddly reassuring. It's nice to know that we all play a part in each other's lives. We all leave something behind. I am who I am today, in part, because of those who surrounded me, loved me, and taught me about life. Grandma is one of those people. And today I'm grateful for her contribution. For the role she played.

Me & Grandma 1974ish

Me & Grandma 2001

Love you, grandma. Oh...and say hi to grandpa for me.