BEWARE OF LISTENING EARS

Most of you have heard my pregnant chalk story. For those who haven't here's a quick recap. When I was pregnant with Macy, I was at church and saw a piece of chalk (fairly new but used) and it looked so good I wanted to eat it. I stuck my head out in the hall to see if anyone was coming from either direction. I didn't see anyone so put the chalk in my mouth and ate like a rabbit would eat a carrot. It was SOOOOOO goooooodddddd! This is the ONLY time I ate chalk.....until I tasted it non-pregnant to see if it had the same effect.....just a taste...and I didn't like it.

Well, the reason for the post....today, Macy and I were at Target to buy a binder. I told her to look for some chalk (for my primary bag so I don't have to go the library on Sundays). Macy says: "Pregnant ladies have to eat chalk, right, Mom?" I asked her what she was talking about and she said : "YOU ate chalk when you were pregnant. Don't all pregnant ladies have to eat chalk?" It dawned on me. She heard me tell the story to somebody and thought it was NORMAL.

Today was a good lesson for my daughter. She learned that her mother is NOT normal.

Happy Birthday Kristie

I grew up in many places...far away places, not so far away places. At the age of 28, I finally had a say in where to live when Ken finished his ER training and we could decide what part of the country to live in. We knew we wanted to move to Washington to be near family but were pretty open to where. The Tri-Cities kept coming to me. Ken interviewed here, we were offered the job, and we turned it down! Well, the Tri-Cities kept coming to my mind. We ended up calling back and asking for the job and it was ours. I could list a million reasons why the move to this place was a good one. However, the most important one to me is because there were women here that I needed to meet and rub shoulders with.

Moving into our house on Van Dyke was not a coincidence either. I met the gal across the street and my first thought was, "Dang, she's beautiful!" It didn't take me long to realize though that Kristie's beauty on the inside far exceeds her beauty on the outside. I was meant to move here. I was meant to be Kristie's neighbor. I was meant to meet her and be her friend. I needed and continue to need her. She is the part I was missing.

Kris, you are the sister I yearned for as an only girl growing up. I am a better woman, mother, and spouse because of you. I love you with all my heart. Have a happy birthday!

Girls Weekend

Top row: Mom, Aunt Judy, Phoebe
Next row: Kristie, Wendy, Ruth
Bottom row: Leslie, Julina, Rosy

The girls in my family (minus a couple) went for a girls getaway to Reardan, Wa near Spokane with a whopping population of 500 people. What was the draw? This adorable little house that was once a shed. It was built specifically for crafting groups. It was perfect!! It consisted of 3 rooms and two bathrooms. The main room when you walk in is the kitchen/dining area. Up the stairs is a bedroom with 10 twin beds and a bathroom. SO FUN!!! Down the stairs is the work room and another bathroom. It was the perfect setup for a weekend of scrapbooking. We laughed so much, had movie after movie on the tv going, and scrapped til we couldn't scrap anymore. DId I mention how much we laughed!!!!!!! These ladies were so much fun! I am blessed to have them as my family. By the way, I beat my 100 pages last time...this time I scrapped 101!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Interview with Madison, Christian, Caden, and Macy.

If you have a kiddo old enough to answer, do this...it was really worth it for the laughs!!

Cut and paste these questions and ask your kids their answers....
These are all direct quotes. Some of them make sense, some of them I have no idea where they came from!

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Madison: Go clean your room.
Christian: Take of your cleats in the house.
Caden: Kick the ball outside!
Macy: Go clean your room.

2. What makes mom happy?
Madison: When I offer to do the dishes
Christian: When us kids care for eachother and clean our room
Caden: When we do what she tells us to do
Macy: Doing what she says

3. What makes mom sad?
Madison: When I don't listen to her
Christian: When one of us kids are sad she is usually sad
Caden: Saying bad things to others
Macy: Disobeying her

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Madison: By singing the Madagascar theme song
Christian: Tickling me and threatening me with funny things
Caden: When she makes sentences up for Macy's spelling words and it ALWAYS has the word carrot in it. (This is true...it's a running joke)
Macy: If she toots or burps (Let me clarify that Macy says this right after she herself toots and makes herself laugh----didn't want ya'll to get the wrong idea!)

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Madison: Permed hair, funky clothes, and liked a lot of boys
Christian: I don't really know
Caden: She had blond hair
Macy: Little

6. How old is your mom?
Madison: 34
Christian: 32
Caden: 34
Macy: 34

7. How tall is your mom?
Madison: 5 feet 3 1/2 inches
Christian: 5 foot 6 inches
Caden: 6 foot 5 inches
Macy: 6 feet

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Madison: Read or play piano
Christian: Scrapbook with her girlfriends
Caden: Play with the kids
Macy: Go to Chuck E CHeese's with me

9. What does your mom do when you're
not around?
Madison: Read and hang out with friends
Christian: Usually scrapbook or clean
Caden: Works on the computer
Macy: Clean up the house

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Madison: Composing and playing music
Christian: Singing or scrapbooking
Caden: Volleyball
Macy: Piano

11. What is your mom really good at?
Madison: Playing piano and solving problems.
Christian: Loving us kids
Caden: Volleyball
Macy: Piano

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Madison: I can't think of one.
Christian: Being mean
Caden: Picking up a table
Macy: Huhhhhh...can you come back to it? She's not very good at doing what kids say.

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Madison: NOthing...she stays at home
Christian: She is our mom
Caden: Alot of things...uuummmm...cooks
Macy: Clean

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
Madison: Nice juicy steak with chocolate dessert
Christian: Reese's peanut butter cups
Caden: Enchiladas
Macy: Cookies

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Madison: Mostly everything
Christian: That she's so kind and caring to others
Caden: When she takes us to McDonalds and gets McFlurries
Macy: Taking me to Chuck E Cheese

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Madison: Roadrunner because she's always on the go
Christian: I don't know, I don't watch very many cartoons
Caden: Cinderella
Macy: Wanda from Fairly Odd Parents

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Madison: Get dip cones
Christian: Go to movies
Caden: Play
Macy: Shop

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Madison: We wear the same clothes (Madison wears mine!)
Christian: We're both smart
Caden: We have the same color of eyes
Macy: Eye color

19. How are you and your mom different?
Madison: She won't wear my clothes
Christian: I'm younger and I'm a boy
Caden: I don't have long hair
Macy: Hair color

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Madison: She lets me borrow her clothes and she takes us out to get dip cones
Christian: By the kind and affectionate things she does for me
Caden: By taking care of me
Macy: She takes care of me

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Madison: He's got brains and bronze.
Christian: Ooohhhhh, uuhhhhhh, ummmmmmmmmm....how he's handsome.
Caden: His accent....no, he doesn't have an accent....she thinks he's a good kisser!
Macy: Kissing him on the lips

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Madison: Olive Garden
Christian: On a scrapbook weekend
Caden: Granny's Buffet
Macy: On trips

JAMIE'S HEART FOUNDATION DINNER

My ONLY girl cousin Jen who is Jamie's Aunt and on the foundation board.

My cousin Tim who is Jamie's dad and founder/president.
My Gma, Aunt Judy, Corina (Jamie's mom and founder of the foundation).


My cousin's little girl passed away a little over two years ago (she just turned 2) from a congenital heart defect. Tim and Corina (Jamie's parents) immediately started a non profit organization to help other families who have children with congenital heart issues. The website is www.jamiesheart.org.

This weekend, Ken and I drove over to Tacoma to attend the annual GalaDinner. We drove over Snoqualmie Pass which was getting pounded with snow. We saw 3 accidents, several stuck cars, and had to put our chains on but we made it safe!

TO EVERY TIME THERE IS A SEASON

This is Grandma...my grandma....my children's great-grandma. She is the one and only that I knew really well growing up and I cherish her dearly.

Grandma has spent her life in the service of others. She speaks kindly of others and looks for opportunities to give support.

Like all of us, Grandma is getting older and with that comes the need to receive service from others. It is hard to accept.

Well, this is my time and my season to give service to my grandma and it makes me so happy to do it...to take care of her. I enjoyed taking her to the hair salon to get her perm. We spend one morning a week playing cards together.

This week, her older sister was visiting from Walla Walla. I had such a great time spending a few hours with these funny ladies playing a dice game called Farckle. Aunt Marge didn't know how to play and by the time it was her turn again, she had forgotten how to play the game but she still managed to beat us a few times and we're seasoned pros!

If only everyone could have this kind of opportunity. I love you, Gma!

AND THE WINNER IS....

It's a dateless Friday night tonight. No hot date with my hubby whose slaving away in the ER. I find myself at home alone with Macy for an hour or so and she wants to play the card game Golf. She's very lucky at this game and often times beats everyone at it. Well, tonight, I lost the first couple of hands and then started winning a few. She started cheering me on!! I asked her why she was happy that I was winning.

Her response: I just tired of winning all the time. Besides people who lose call winners WIENERS!

I have to explain that last part....we're not talking wiener as a slang word for a body part....something funny we do is purposely pronounce things wrong. Like mustard is MOOSE-TARD, Yakima is YUK-EYE-MAH, Etc. Don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.....ha!

THEY TEACH CRAP IN SCHOOL

Christian learned about a bunch of crap today at school....for real! A lady came in and taught them all about sewage and water treatment. Where used water goes and how it's made pure again.

Here is Christian's interpretation:

Everything we flush down the toilet and things that go down our sinks all run together and go to a water treatment center. They kill a lot of the bacteria (poop included here) by heating up the water really hot and it puts of a gas that starts with an M (something like millenium) that we use to make fuel. So, if we were to bottle our farts, we could make energy.

Madison's New Hair

Madison has new hair....well, not really new, it's her same old hair...but curly! She decided to try out a perm (with Mom's suggestion) so she could be ready in no time flat and have some body to it. She loves it!

LEAVENWORTH TRIP

We spent this past 3 day weekend in the mountains in Leavenworth, Wa. We rented a 3500 square foot log home with Kristy and Erik Hebdon and their kids. We had so much fun! It snowed every day, we shopped, we napped, the kids went in the hot tub and then cooled off in the snow...then got BACK in the hot tub, we played games, played in the snow, went on a sleigh ride, and the men took the older kids skiing. Those pictures will follow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TAMI!

It's all about you, today, Tami! Happy Birthday!! The Tri-Cities is so much better off now having the Smith family here. I still marvel at how ironic it is that you and I met at the King and I when you were checking out Tri-Cities, then moved in next to us in the apts, and now the same ward. See, we were destined to be friends. Tami, there are so many things I love you. You are such an amazing example to me in the way you are as a woman, wife, mother, and friend. Thank you for the insights you share, the love you show to others, and for being the friend that you are....and I'm excited to have you back on the bike! Love you!

LIP SERVICE

MACY
Do you ever wonder what your kids tell their teachers? Well, I was going through the graded school papers and came across one of Macy's. She had to write a sentence using the word lip. Her sentence read "My mom sockt me on the lip." I sure hope Mrs. McLean knows better than to believe that one!

Caden
Out of the blue...
Caden asks me: "Mom, I know why Jesus doesn't want us to pray for ice cream and desserts, and stuff."
I ask him: "Why?"
His reply: "Because he knows it's not healthy and he wants us to eat good things."
Fair enough!

HOLE IN THE WALL

Ken and I went shooting at a place in town called The Hole In The Wall. This was my first time going to an actual shooting range to do some target practice and getting familiar with my gun. I actually surprised myself!! My first couple of rounds I shot a little low but still within the chest cavity. Each time I got better. By the end, I was dead center of my target 3 of my 5 shots. This gave me GREAT confidence!! I know that if someone breaks into my house, I CAN protect myself and my family. I'm going to take a Firearm Skills course in March and decided (after one trip to the shooting range) that I am going to get my concealed weapons permit.....BECAUSE I CAN! Look closely at the 2nd to last picture. You can actually see the bullet leaving the gun. Good picture, Ken!

CANDY AIRPLANES

This year, for Valentine's Day, I decided we were going to do something fun instead of just buying boxed cards. I found this cute candy airplane on line and we put them together today after school. It was a little frustrating at first but we tweaked the directions a bit and made it much easier so I'll share what we did.

CRAFT MATERIALS:
	Thin rubber band
	Peppermint Life Savers
	Smarties
	Cinnamon gum
d
Time needed: Under 1 Hour

1. Thread the rubber band through the holes of two Life Savers, then balance the roll of Smarties between them, across the rubber band.
2. For wings, balance the stick of gum on top, perpendicular to the Smarties, and pull the rubber band up and over each side of the gum to hold it all in place.
3. Decorate the wings with tiny heart-shaped stickers or a message.
Tips:
If smaller fingers are having trouble with all that balancing and stretching, have one person hold the candy in place while another works the rubber band up and over the gum.

HOW WE TWEAKED IT: We used lifesavers with the clear wrapper on them and poked a whole with a skewer then fed the rubberband through the the skewer. Then we wrapped the ends of the rubberband around the gum for the wing. Then we slid in the smartie. We had too much slack still on our rubberband so we hooked one side of the rubberband around the tail as well. Worked like a charm!

We made 115 of these!!! Then we made up little cards that said YOU ARE JUST PLANE FUN!