Snow Angel !

We celebrated the snowy morning with snow angels, snowballs, and making "snow dinner". Click on the picture to see some of our snow fun!

A hush has fallen over the world, it is one of great inspire
I've poured myself a cup of tea, and lit the fire
It brings up a childlike joy from my inner core
The promise of all things beautiful once more
The barren branches once a beautiful golden, are now covered with flakes of crystal white
A soft blanket of snow has gently covered my earth tonight!

A New Week

I'm thankful that today is the start of a new week! I'm starting it with a better attitude, and back on track for taking it one day at a time! We had a very nice time at Thanksgiving dinner, and I had a great weekend with a couple of friends. I also conquered a project that has been nagging me for some time.I repainted our bedroom a super sunny warm and golden color!. Here are some classic quotes from my daughter this week that brought me much joy!

• "It's raining, it's pouring, some guy is snoring!" ( ohhh, I love what her little ears pick up!)
• when driving by a mill on our way to do some shopping, on a very cloudy day...... "Look, they're making more clouds!" (that would be the steam billowing out, she had a point, it did look like the other clouds, unable to explain this easily, I just agreed!)

Sebastian sportin' an afro

Our own little "Annie" with a fro

Meet: Marilyn Gordo& Pilgrim Pumpkinhead

and I believe Maddy named hers Bebo & HaHa

Thanksgiving Eve

My week has been quite a downer, its left me tired, stressed and without any inspiration for anything else. I haven't written anything on the blog this week because of this. I find it odd, that this is the week of Thanksgiving, the time of counting our blessings, and what we're thankful for,how much we have......and I'm struggling. So yesterday evening I decided that it was time for a little fun. Instead of just throwing out the pumpkins to get ready for Christmas, I thought it would be more fun to play with them first. I got out paint and brushes, turned on happy music, and gathered the family for a little creativity and laughter! The pictures pretty much tell it all, after a lot of stress, you finally just flip to the other side of zaniness, and it was a blast. We painted our pumpkins, named them, and seemed to find that everyone, and I mean, everyone, looked downright hilarious wearing a crazy wig! When Zach came out to join us and found me putting the wig on everything in sight, he asked "Have you been drinking?" No, I was just getting great comic relief! Today I will be counting my blessings...my family, my home, my pets, my friends, my freedom to worship, to vote, to be in this country. I wish everyone a day of reflection of the positive in your life!

I'm off to make coffee cake and watch the Macy's Parade!

More pics on Flickr!

Upcoming Movies......
I did see a couple of movie trailers that looked great and worth a date night for me and Zach.

• "Evan Almighty".... it's Bruce Almighty 2, but with Steve Carroll as Evan who is chosen by god/Morgan Freeman to be Noah and build an ark and collect all the animals. It looked hilarious! ( ok, sidenote, yup this will not be a perfect representation of christianity, but for an adult movie, I'm ok with this one. I personally did not find Bruce A offensive)
• "The Nativity"....according to the trailer ( I will research a little more) this looked incredibly well done! So real looking, like the movie Passion ,in the sense of real characters that really bring it to life. I'm definitely interested\
• another Christmas one set to come out 2007. It's Vince Vaughn playing the brother of Santa Claus. Looked like a funny perspective, we'll see.
• Oh, and lastly Dakota Fanning stars as Fern in real life , as in its not a cartoon, movie of Charlotte's Web. It looked awesome! Julia Roberts plays Charlotte, Wilbur's adorable, and the rat Templeton, was very funny! Looks like a winner!..........(of course from now on before I take any child into a theater I will be doing my research first!)

My Movie Review (warning, this entry classified as a rant!)
My mom and I took Maddy to see the new cartoon movie about penguins called "Happy Feet". More or Less, it was awful! My child is traumatized my the movie, and quite frankly I'm now depressed. So beware to all those with young children, I do not reccomend this film. Now my mom's friend met us there and she also brought her 2 girls. One was 15, enjoyed the movie and said that all her friends are seeing it. The other girl was about 6 and she was scared and hated it too. The previews alone were what nightmares are made out of for little ones, dragons, and some evil and scary new Harry Potter, etc. We had to put Maddy's coat up to block her eyes for those! I should've known then to go ask what was the age level for this movie. My mom and I had seen the commercials wherein there are these adorable fluffy penguins singing and dancing, but that's not the whole truth. I learned my lesson, I will do much more homework before taking my 3 year old into a movie theater!
So what's the big deal you're wondering? Well , not anything for older kids, although its the most political cartoon I've ever seen. They even have the U.N. fighting at the end! My mom and I joked afterwards if Al Gore was the producer! Not that I totally disagree with the politics, I'm a major conservationist and animal nut, it was just way too serious and politcal for a cartoon supposedly for kids. If I wanted to see a documentary on how humans are killing all the animal species on earth I would've chosen another route. After you've personified animals to that degree, then show how we kill them, and cage them, NOT so happy feet at all! It has its usual good morals for older kids to learn, acceptance when someone is different, be responsible for what you do on earth, have courage..... You could also really read into some of the other agendas about religion. I get the thing where years ago there was a generation that thought rock'n roll was the "devil's music", and we've moved on from that. But this took it a little far. Anyone ever see Waterboy, where Bobby Bouchet (played by Adam Sandler)'s mama told him that football was from the devil, ok.... funny. We shouldn't trust our Almighty because the power is all in ourselves, and completely go a different way? I dunno suppose I'm just being sensitive but whatever, supposed to be a cartoon about happy feet for cryin' out loud! It could've been cute, but they made the mean animals soooo scary, and really most of the movie your are so sad for the penguin and its really long and depressing, that they just ruined it. A 2 year old in front of us, cried, and cried during a couple scenes, the family finally left, and the kids next to me kept asking there dad what was going on. My child is a little traumatized for 2 reasons. One, the whole ,animals in captivity was hard for her& to see the penguin so devastated by it. And 2 ,the scary seal lions and orcas.
At lunch today she said several times, " no, I can't the sea lion will get me!" At the mall she hid in all the clothing racks saying dinosaurs and lions were gonna get her. Oh boy, some mom and grammy we turned out to be today.:(
So, yup I'm opinionated about this one maybe because I'm sensitive about my child's reaction. You'll see it, love it, and wonder what my problem is....SORRY,this one hit a nerve.For teenagers, fine: cute music, good animation,& learning about global responsibility.
P.S. after reading reviews I remembered that I forgot to mention the amount of sexuality thrown in, several nasty little things with that too!
P.S.S>this guy reviewed pretty much as I saw it(except for the gay thing,I didn't get that)
http://michaelmedved.townhall.com/blog/g/5094f586-fed7-4cf4-872c-d20b94c78024

A few interesting facts about me....

• As I have mentioned, I LOVE dark chocolate! Really, I just don't find any need for milk chocolate in this world!
• I really like silly slapstick comedic movies...kind of a dark secret. I wouldn't want anyone to know I really do enjoy the following for fear of thinking different of me. Dumb & Dumber,Elf, UHF, Napolean Dynamite, and of course Princess Bride. All of these are true classics, and I could watch them over and over, and they will never fail to cheer me up!
• I've travelled to several other countries, all for missionary purposes and someday would like to travel for pure indulgent pleasure. Mexico, England, France, Austria, and from back in the day : Czhecklosavakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia.
• I'm allergic to rodents, and long haired cats.
• I love Christmas and happy the season is almost here!
• Growing up I always wanted to work at a zoo and take care of animals, or Sea World and be a dolphin trainer (btw, still find it to be one of my dream jobs!)
• Also growing up I wanted to have a monkey as a pet...!?
• The two previous bring to this point: I've often been nicknamed "Snow White" for my intense love and passion for animals, and the attraction they seem to have for me.
• I've been married for 8 years.
• I grew up in Southern California and used to watch the Disneyland fireworks from our house nightly, and the sound of the booms always meant bedtime!

Here's the cutie- patootie with her little bandaged hand with a Barbie bandaid on it...isn't she pretty?! Amazing how kids just bounce back from anything, and just wanna play, play, play! I love it. She can really teach me alot!

The Fireplace

....this last week I really got ready for winter. We had a lot of heavy rain, and blustery wind! It was obvious that fall was turning into winter. Inspired by the storms outside I decided it was time to get the fireplace up and running. I vaccumed out the old soot, and cleaned the glass, rearranged the fake logs and turned on the pilot light (btw this is a gas fireplace!) I turned it on with a cozy joy. I lit other candles around the house, pulled out the chenille blanket, and started baking a dinner. This little corner of the house was my new little spot of "zen". You know, a place you like to just stare, it brings you peace, it brings you joy. Even the kitties, as seen here, instantly found it to be there favorite spot too. Zach came home and was immediately thrilled by the yummy sights and smells. We planned that our evening would be a movie and dinner in front of the fireplace. WELL...... to know a little about my life is to know that usually if bad things can happen, they will happen to me and my family! I know that's a very "the glass is half empty" way of putting things, but all joking aside those who know me, will totally get it! SO, my moment of zen was interupted when my husband came into the office with a screaming toddler in tow, to inform me that she was just burned by the fireplace. Now, mind you, all day she knew not to ever touch the fireplace, she even informed Zach upon his homecoming that the fireplace was hot, and not to touch it. I was here in the office when it happened, and Zach was playing his guitar in the living room. My theory is that she was dancing around to the music and accidently brushed the back of her hand on the glass front. We soaked her red little hand in water and called the nurse hotline at our doctor's office. Sure enough, at 7:30 at night, the nurse thought we should bring her in based on the amount of white on top of the burn. The poor little thing, her little hand just shook, and swelled! Zach ran out to the garage and put up the fireplace screen, we actually already owned.........but I had failed to put up yet [enter the intense mother guilt here]. We blew out all the candles threw on jackets and rushed down to the "after hours" doctor's office. (very thankful, they offer this service in the evenings, to prevent a trip to the emergency room) So there it was, my cozy joy, my place of peace, my corner of zen.......destroyed, scarred, not to be looked at the same. Little Maddy was a trooper, she sustained a second degree burn on the back of her pointer finger knuckle down to the knuckles on the hand, then over almost to her ring finger. The doctor slathered silver cream all over wrapped her hand to look like a boxing glove and gave her juice, graham crackers and advil. We then took her out for ice cream, maybe to ease our guilt a little, I dunno, just seems the thing to do, when the little one suffers so. She's healing up quite well, and she doesn't even go near the fireplace. I think I'll be left more scarred than her, and I'm working on my healing of the guilt complex and trying to like my fireplace again......

Will post soon.....having computer trouble :(!
Internet Explorer keeps shutting me down!
I'm heading out to get my mammogram ....oh yippee
(have you gotten yours this year??!!)

Thankfulness part 2

I'm super- duper thankful for my adorable, comicable, precious daughter! She is currently behind me doing all she can thank of to get my attention while using a small tupperware container. She is doing the following: She's made it a hat, using it as a microphone, putting it on my head as a hat, playing peek a boo with it, giggling, yelling, and being as silly as possible to distract me from this computer. She may really make me mad sometimes, and certain moments I wonder how I can continue another moment in my day with her. And then the next moment I'm cracking up, or looking at her with intense admiration for her little mind, or feeling so much love inside me it physically hurts! I could go on and on with all my feelings for her, memories, special times, and how much my life would be empty and meaningless without her. I'll just leave some of her recent quotes that bring a smile to my face every time I think of them.

" I need some mammograms! " ( what? I ask) " I NEED A MAMMOGRAM!" she insists... As I'm totally cracking up, I realize that she wants some of the Teddy Grahams that we got earlier that day. I guess she really does listen to me, because I'm scheduled for my mammogram later this month.

This summer we took in 2 Chinese exchange students for 2 weeks. In preparation, I had spent a lot of time explaining to her that these kids were coming to stay with us, that they were from another country, and that they spoke a different language. As we pulled into the parking lot at our local University to pick up the students, from the backseat she shouts very excitedly, " Is this China?" I'm still chuckling over her precious innocence, and the very small, simplistic world she lives in.

Maddy kept insisting every time we were on the backyard swing that she could see pineapples. I never could under stand what she was talking about, so I eventually began arguing with her. She always was insistent and never backed down. Finally, one day, she pointed to the very large pine tree behind our backyard fence and said, " See mom, look at all the pineapples!" Laughing I realized, there were a lot of PINECONES on the tree, and yeah, she's right they do look a bit like little pineapples.

I love this little girl!!!!!!

It's raining, it's pouring..........
this is our dog Sebastian helping me show how much rain is covering our street!
These beautiful orange and brown fall leaves, are the main culprit for the flooding all around town! I captured this red one floating by on the other side of the sidewalk.

Making Traditions
Today I went to my "moms group". It's a group of mother's of young children led by women who's children have already grown up. They meet twice a month at our church and their purpose is to encourage and help us young moms. It has been a blessing to me for the last 2 and 1/2 years. Today we got a history lesson from a lady who used to be a second grade teacher. It was the history of Thanksgiving, and how the first pilgrims came to this new land, and what their experience really was. She then gave us ideas on how to teach these things to our children and inspire us to start Thanksgiving traditions. We often overlook this holiday as it is smashed between Halloween and Christmas. Listening to the entire story today really was inspiring! I had forgotten some of the great things that had happened. And I now am throwing around ideas in my head to make this thanksgiving memorable. Zach and I have talked about Christmas traditions for this year already. Maddy is now at a really fun age to start special holiday memories! Here is a great one that someone mentioned for Thanksgiving: buy a light colored tablecloth and with permanent markers have your child write ( or you for them....) on the tablecloth what they are thankful for this year. Have them write on it yearly.
I love it! How sweet, fun and memorable for all of us. I'm definitely doing this one! Anyone else have a special tradition you could share? I'll update here with any other ones we decide to do!

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!
Just a friendly reminder....... many people died for us to have a chance to throw in our opinion, please make sure to do it! As much as politics can be stinky, we are blessed to be in a country that lets us be a part!

Quotes from "Little Classics"...
As I read to Madalyne tonight from one of the books in a series of the above name. I found a couple of quotes worthy of sharing!

• Dear Lord, Please give me what I ask, if you'd be glad about it. But if you think it's not for me, please help me to do without it. Amen
• Lord, grant me a simple, kind, open, believing, loving, and generous heart, worthy of being Your dwelling place. John Sergieff
• The lessons of life are found in the love of Jesus.

So here is a mother's attempt to trick her child into eating a healthy breakfast! It's a banana slug! Sounds disgusting, but it totally worked! If I would of asked her if she would like bananas or raisins in her cereal, the answer would have been no. BUT, look what I can do!! Call it clever manipulation, the power of suggestion, whatever....I call it antioxidants, iron,& potassium down the hatch! She giggled with delight, promptly chowed it down, and even asked for seconds! You know those moments of parenthood, where you want to shout, " HA, I win!". Yes, I'm feeling very proud of myself right now........... :)

Halloween 2006

Look at this beautiful fairy princess! So sweet, so innocent. Hmmm, well at least half the time. As we stayed with friends this last week, she proved she is changing, and becoming her own self! It's amazing and strange to watch your child change. She's definitely letting everyone around her know that she has an opinion, and knows what she wants to happen. That's good, I know, but can't I just keep the sweet little cherub instead?

Maddy and I had a lot of fun on our "girls trip". It was 10 degrees outside when we woke up on Tuesday morning, so that really dictated when and what we were going to do. So finally, it hit 34 and we ventured out! We walked around beautiful downtown, got coffees, stopped at a bakery ant got free leftover bread to go feed the ducks with. It was sunny and beautiful. We crunched golden leaves under our feet, and felt the cold air in our lungs when we breathed. We walked to the river and fed some very cold and hungry ducks! That night we got ready to go to a local church Harvest Carnival for Halloween festivities. There was pizza, and face painting, and plenty of games for the little ones to play and win candy.

Our trip was good, but it's always good to come home too. Zach was so thrilled to see us Wed. night that he had planned his own little welcome home for us! ( He had been so bored without us he had watched lame movies on TV which included Planet of the Apes, and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes....WOW, was my trip WAY better!) He picked up a pizza and a movie, and bought me flowers and champagne, and an "I love you" card. Boy, does this guy know how to make points!!I was completely amazed, and a very glad to know he really missed me, it was only 2 nights, 3 days!

(Click on the Flickr box to see more pictures of our trip. )