so chris has been in wyoming for 5 days now. and i have not complained about it. until now- i am ready for you to be home already christopher joel! (seriousness. i used the middle name.) lily and gravity were not friends tonight, so lots of tears were shed, and tears are not my friends. tears kind of make my skin crawl, especially if they are accompanied by their even-more-annoying counterpart, whining.
now, i don't want to sound like a heartless mother, even though that's what i sound like, but lily used to cry ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so i just need to still get over that portion of our lives and not get angry everytime she cries. especially when it's very legit. but more often than not, it's still not. if she gets hurt from doing something that i expressly told her not to do- SHOULD i express deep sympathy for her? i don't know. you tell me. i tell her that i am sorry she got hurt, but that i am not sorry that she didn't listen to me. i guess no one at any age likes to hear "i told you so", no matter how you mask it.
but i have had a great five days with the kids, and i know chris has missed us terribly, but has also had a really really great trip. so i am very thankful for that. our timing of living with the in-laws has actually been kind of perfect. for me at least. it's definitely hard hanging out with kids 24/7 as the solo adult. but if there is at least one other adult around, even if they were sitting in a chair, strapped down, and all they could do was talk to me and not even lend a hand- that would be ok! i just need another adult to talk to. but fortunately for me, barb and jerry are not incapacitated and help out with the kids quite a bit. so i get conversation, lattes, and help with the monkeys. a great deal to be sure.
today the kids did not nap. that probably also made the day a bit longer. BUT i did wake up in my own bed at 6:05am, and that was a miracle! no one called out for me in the middle of the night, not even once. so great. i was definitely praising Jesus like crazy for that blessing.
anyhoo, i have one and a half more days till the wilderness man gets back from his voyage. fortunately tomorrow night i will be out on a date with mary beth (she set up a babysitter for us! genius woman!!!!!) and the kids will have their second sleepover of their lives, in the same week. at the same house no less.
again, i am too blessed to have the family and friends that i do.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
still kickin
hey peeps.
i'm here! and i am not depressed!
i got quite a few concerned texts this weekend from concerned friends who read my last post. this is my blog. my pity party are open to the public. no cover charge.
anyhoo, i have been meaning to write an uplifting post, but alas, it's getting pretty close to my bedtime. which is crazy since i have been sitting here, alone, in my room, for the last 2.5 hours.
chris is in wyoming, hanging out at yellowstone national park, with a friend of his who turned 40 this month. and that was his birthday wish- to go to yellowstone with his brother and 2 of his bffs. at small group yesterday we talked about what we would like to do for milestone birthdays. apparently a lot of men have this ridiculous desire to go out to the woods, or at least into nature, and just BE. and BE often included hunting bears. weird.
my thing is, and for no particular birthday, to go to toronto and have coffee at every single independently owned coffee shop. i imagine this would take about a year (or one severely sleep-deprived month) to do as there are tons and tons of coffee shops. i have a dream...
anyhoo, between learning how to set up my new ipod (my first ever ipod actually. i think i need help. i still don't know what i'm doing.) and playing bejeweled blast, and sending out e-mails, and trying to read my book for my high school small group tomorrow, i am running out of time to blog!
i have a ton of cute pics of the kids from this week though. i might just post them all on facebook and you will have to check them out there. but living 'abroad' has brought out the adventurous side of us. or at least the not-lazy part of us. we went to the zoo (not the best idea since it was still 100+ degrees out) rode on the camels, went to a splash pad, had our first sleep-over at a friend's, and we have been playing in the backyard a ton! nice to have 'cooler' evening weather at long last! and having a pimpin backyard to play in doesn't hurt either.
anyway, the last few days have been riddled with other peoples' ups and downs. this morning my girlfriend's sister, who had been trying to have a baby for over 4 years, gave birth to a healthy and wonderful baby girl. praise Jesus! and then we also found out that my sister-in-law Lindsay is pregnant with a little girl! also wonderful. but then i also found out that a friend's daughter, who just had a baby a month and a half ago, is suddenly getting divorced cause her husband announced that he "doesn't love her anymore". what!?!???!?!?!?!?... and then i had the scare of my life when i heard that the little boy i watch on thursdays and fridays wouldn't wake up from his nap. for hours and hours and hours and hours on end. many tests- CTScans, spinal taps, etc have been done. i don't know if they know anything just yet besides the fact that he has a double ear infection. but ear infections make kids cranky, and a little tired i'm sure. but not comatose! the little man is doing better, but please pray for him if you think about it. and for 'k' and her new baby as they begin this ugly divorce process.
life is full of ups and downs. i am thankful my downs have nothing to do with health or love and my ups have lots to do with them. very very thankful. i am so thankful for my new roommates who make me soy lattes (hot in the morning, iced in the afternoon. jerry! you're my favorite barista!!!!!!!) and make yummy dinner, and clean after i make dinner, and provide awesome conversation, and lots and lots of love and laughs for my lily and topher.
this sounds pretty cheesy, but i am thankful for you readers, who for whatever reason, read my blog, even when i'm not writing anything new for days at a time, and occassionally call me to make sure i haven't completely lost it. thanks a lot. i'm still here. and i'm still kickin it.
i'm here! and i am not depressed!
i got quite a few concerned texts this weekend from concerned friends who read my last post. this is my blog. my pity party are open to the public. no cover charge.
anyhoo, i have been meaning to write an uplifting post, but alas, it's getting pretty close to my bedtime. which is crazy since i have been sitting here, alone, in my room, for the last 2.5 hours.
chris is in wyoming, hanging out at yellowstone national park, with a friend of his who turned 40 this month. and that was his birthday wish- to go to yellowstone with his brother and 2 of his bffs. at small group yesterday we talked about what we would like to do for milestone birthdays. apparently a lot of men have this ridiculous desire to go out to the woods, or at least into nature, and just BE. and BE often included hunting bears. weird.
my thing is, and for no particular birthday, to go to toronto and have coffee at every single independently owned coffee shop. i imagine this would take about a year (or one severely sleep-deprived month) to do as there are tons and tons of coffee shops. i have a dream...
anyhoo, between learning how to set up my new ipod (my first ever ipod actually. i think i need help. i still don't know what i'm doing.) and playing bejeweled blast, and sending out e-mails, and trying to read my book for my high school small group tomorrow, i am running out of time to blog!
i have a ton of cute pics of the kids from this week though. i might just post them all on facebook and you will have to check them out there. but living 'abroad' has brought out the adventurous side of us. or at least the not-lazy part of us. we went to the zoo (not the best idea since it was still 100+ degrees out) rode on the camels, went to a splash pad, had our first sleep-over at a friend's, and we have been playing in the backyard a ton! nice to have 'cooler' evening weather at long last! and having a pimpin backyard to play in doesn't hurt either.
anyway, the last few days have been riddled with other peoples' ups and downs. this morning my girlfriend's sister, who had been trying to have a baby for over 4 years, gave birth to a healthy and wonderful baby girl. praise Jesus! and then we also found out that my sister-in-law Lindsay is pregnant with a little girl! also wonderful. but then i also found out that a friend's daughter, who just had a baby a month and a half ago, is suddenly getting divorced cause her husband announced that he "doesn't love her anymore". what!?!???!?!?!?!?... and then i had the scare of my life when i heard that the little boy i watch on thursdays and fridays wouldn't wake up from his nap. for hours and hours and hours and hours on end. many tests- CTScans, spinal taps, etc have been done. i don't know if they know anything just yet besides the fact that he has a double ear infection. but ear infections make kids cranky, and a little tired i'm sure. but not comatose! the little man is doing better, but please pray for him if you think about it. and for 'k' and her new baby as they begin this ugly divorce process.
life is full of ups and downs. i am thankful my downs have nothing to do with health or love and my ups have lots to do with them. very very thankful. i am so thankful for my new roommates who make me soy lattes (hot in the morning, iced in the afternoon. jerry! you're my favorite barista!!!!!!!) and make yummy dinner, and clean after i make dinner, and provide awesome conversation, and lots and lots of love and laughs for my lily and topher.
this sounds pretty cheesy, but i am thankful for you readers, who for whatever reason, read my blog, even when i'm not writing anything new for days at a time, and occassionally call me to make sure i haven't completely lost it. thanks a lot. i'm still here. and i'm still kickin it.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
report card on life: C+
we have moved!
and that's why i haven't been around much.
sunday was dooms day, but every day before that felt pretty 'doomy' if you ask me. i really take for granted the fact that they say moving is one of the top 3 stressors in life. the way that chris and i have been moving of late, has not necessarily been 'easier'. the frequency of the moves doesn't help either. but why do we do it? cause all these different opportunities arise for us to buy houses, so we jump on em. meanwhile we have to land on different family members' hospitality mid-jump to make the most of said opportunities.
right now we are flat out taking advantage of the wonderful barb and jerry osborne pad. we have gone swimming almost everyday. we all could have our own rooms, but we choose to share. i don't have to make dinner to night, which is awesome, cause barb said she wanted to make spaghetti. AND i haven't even asked the crazy woman to do it-but barb has packed chris' sandwich for lunch for the last two days! (she says it's easy cause she makes a sandwich for jerry everyday anyway. great wife. great mom.) man, we might never leave!...
and at the rate the banks are working on our contracts, it kinda looks like we might actually have to stay here forever...
here's where we are at with our future housing-
house 1. we put an offer on it in APRIL. yeah, like five and a half months ago. we just signed something that said we will not close faster than 45 days. but 45 days from when!?!?... sounds like things are moving... but at the same pace my children come running to me when i tell them we are eating broccoli and horse poop for dinner.
house 2. we put an offer on this house a little over a month ago. or maybe it's been two months now. i don't know. this house is definitely moving faster than the other house (since the other house had a 3 month head start!!!) but we're not entirely sure where we are at in the process.
so, we are getting pretty comfortable here, and trying to be on our bestest behavior. i have been trying to pump these people up with korean dinners, to give the impression that we are wonderful house guests...
anyhoo, sunday was moving day and it was a record high hot day in arizona for september. awesome. even when i wasn't moving anything- i was sweating. 111 degrees. boo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we asked our friends to help us move our crap from our apartment to our storage unit- but strangely enough, we didn't have many takers. shocking, i know. but everyone had a legitamitely good excuse. people couldn't get babysitters, it was their birthday, they were at church for almost 10 hours speaking or singing, etc etc. i don't know why we keep moving on sundays and in the summer, but whatever. we did sucker two of our friends from our small group to come and help us and we are forever indebted to Jay and Shelley. they don't read my blog, but i'm giving them a shout out anyway cause i am in love with their hearts and strong muscles. my girlfriend mary beth also watched lily and topher for me, so i continue to be indebted to her as well.
the move went well enough. we were not as well-packed as we should have been, nor were we as well-prepared as we should have been. basically, we are getting worse with every move we make, not better. i think it's a sign we should STOP. chris started the moving process at about 11 am. we were out of the apartment completely by 9pm. but not without some idiotically ridiculous stuff happening to us first:
i don't know if i mentioned our 'vinegar terror' story from when we moved into the apartment, but last year when we moved into the apartment, there was a bottle of vinegar in a box, and it spilled in our car. nasty. the car stunk. needless to say it made selling that car VERY DIFFICULT a few weeks later. so i pretty much hate vinegar. and the worst part is, we still had that same bottle of vinegar when we were getting ready to move out. i learned from our previous mistake, so i dumped the remainder of the bottle down the drain and then threw out the bottle in a big black trash bag. well, of course, as i am taking the trash out to the dumpster, the bag rips a bit and disgusting garbage juice spills on my legs. yes, it's vinegar. ugh. how i loathe vinegar. and then i had some balsamic vinegar spill onto some stuff in a bin in the front seat in the van. i was fortunately driving by the dumpster when i noticed the rancid reek, so i threw out anything the balsamic vinegar had touched. it was dark so i don't know what i was throwing out. but i didn't care. vinegar and i are not friends.
in the year that we lived in our fairly gross apartment, i had never seen a scorpion. as chris and i were really getting ready to leave, the last item that needed to be brought out was his big ol' gun safe. chris, in all his buff glory, goes to pick the thing up from underneath, and he gets stung by a giant scorpion. really??!?! are you frickin kidding me scorpion?!?!? on chris' middle finger no less. and it, and a good portion of chris' arm went numb soon after. that kinda just stamped and sealed our whole moving process. a scorpion bite on the middle finger. nice touch...
anyway, the next day chris and i found ourselves in a serious funk. i went to work for a few hours. as i drove to work i found myself in the perfect pathetic fallacy. it was a hot sunny day, the mark of a bright new day and start for our family. but it suddenly started raining, though the sky maintained it sunny appearance. ah! perfection. i was definitely trying to keep up a sunny and cheerful front but i was definitely crying inside! i was so physically tired. i was so tired of moving. i was so disappointed we weren't in a house yet. i was kinda just pissed at life and doubting a lot of decisions that chris and i had made that had brought us to the place where we were at. did we make a wrong turn somewhere? were we being greedy and selfish and a ton of other unflattering things?
when it comes down to it, we keep moving because we are trying to secure our financial future. i know it sounds crazy to still think real estate can be part of anyone's financial future, but God has really blessed us with our 1.5 homes (jeehon owns half of one) that are being rented out right now and this next house (should we ever get to officially purchase it...) is going to be a real steal of a deal. what would you sacrifice for your family's future? our sacrifice is our comfort about 1 week a year. (my in-laws unfortunately have to sacrifice a bit too...)
anyhoo... this is a pretty long post so i should probably wrap it up now. but my kids are still napping so i will add this one verse that i was reminded of while driving in the sunshiny rain in the midst of my joys and woes:
"Let us acknowledge the Lord;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth."
- hosea 6:3
so as always, God is good. He and nothing else. definitely not me. i started off this week on sunday with an 'F' attitude (as in failing. not anything else. well...) anyway, it's thursday and i am doing better. i'm no all-star so i haven't been able to pull myself up to an A+ attitude just yet. i have not had a ton of internet access, which is good cause it makes me waste my time a lot less. and makes me have quiet time more. i am living in a beautiful, very well-decorated home, that belongs to two people who really love the crap out of me and my family. and they also happen to love Glee, so we had a great time watching the season premiere of that on Tuesday all together. i could not be more blessed. though you wouldn't always know it from my attitude. but i'm working on it!
and that's why i haven't been around much.
sunday was dooms day, but every day before that felt pretty 'doomy' if you ask me. i really take for granted the fact that they say moving is one of the top 3 stressors in life. the way that chris and i have been moving of late, has not necessarily been 'easier'. the frequency of the moves doesn't help either. but why do we do it? cause all these different opportunities arise for us to buy houses, so we jump on em. meanwhile we have to land on different family members' hospitality mid-jump to make the most of said opportunities.
right now we are flat out taking advantage of the wonderful barb and jerry osborne pad. we have gone swimming almost everyday. we all could have our own rooms, but we choose to share. i don't have to make dinner to night, which is awesome, cause barb said she wanted to make spaghetti. AND i haven't even asked the crazy woman to do it-but barb has packed chris' sandwich for lunch for the last two days! (she says it's easy cause she makes a sandwich for jerry everyday anyway. great wife. great mom.) man, we might never leave!...
and at the rate the banks are working on our contracts, it kinda looks like we might actually have to stay here forever...
here's where we are at with our future housing-
house 1. we put an offer on it in APRIL. yeah, like five and a half months ago. we just signed something that said we will not close faster than 45 days. but 45 days from when!?!?... sounds like things are moving... but at the same pace my children come running to me when i tell them we are eating broccoli and horse poop for dinner.
house 2. we put an offer on this house a little over a month ago. or maybe it's been two months now. i don't know. this house is definitely moving faster than the other house (since the other house had a 3 month head start!!!) but we're not entirely sure where we are at in the process.
so, we are getting pretty comfortable here, and trying to be on our bestest behavior. i have been trying to pump these people up with korean dinners, to give the impression that we are wonderful house guests...
anyhoo, sunday was moving day and it was a record high hot day in arizona for september. awesome. even when i wasn't moving anything- i was sweating. 111 degrees. boo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we asked our friends to help us move our crap from our apartment to our storage unit- but strangely enough, we didn't have many takers. shocking, i know. but everyone had a legitamitely good excuse. people couldn't get babysitters, it was their birthday, they were at church for almost 10 hours speaking or singing, etc etc. i don't know why we keep moving on sundays and in the summer, but whatever. we did sucker two of our friends from our small group to come and help us and we are forever indebted to Jay and Shelley. they don't read my blog, but i'm giving them a shout out anyway cause i am in love with their hearts and strong muscles. my girlfriend mary beth also watched lily and topher for me, so i continue to be indebted to her as well.
the move went well enough. we were not as well-packed as we should have been, nor were we as well-prepared as we should have been. basically, we are getting worse with every move we make, not better. i think it's a sign we should STOP. chris started the moving process at about 11 am. we were out of the apartment completely by 9pm. but not without some idiotically ridiculous stuff happening to us first:
i don't know if i mentioned our 'vinegar terror' story from when we moved into the apartment, but last year when we moved into the apartment, there was a bottle of vinegar in a box, and it spilled in our car. nasty. the car stunk. needless to say it made selling that car VERY DIFFICULT a few weeks later. so i pretty much hate vinegar. and the worst part is, we still had that same bottle of vinegar when we were getting ready to move out. i learned from our previous mistake, so i dumped the remainder of the bottle down the drain and then threw out the bottle in a big black trash bag. well, of course, as i am taking the trash out to the dumpster, the bag rips a bit and disgusting garbage juice spills on my legs. yes, it's vinegar. ugh. how i loathe vinegar. and then i had some balsamic vinegar spill onto some stuff in a bin in the front seat in the van. i was fortunately driving by the dumpster when i noticed the rancid reek, so i threw out anything the balsamic vinegar had touched. it was dark so i don't know what i was throwing out. but i didn't care. vinegar and i are not friends.
in the year that we lived in our fairly gross apartment, i had never seen a scorpion. as chris and i were really getting ready to leave, the last item that needed to be brought out was his big ol' gun safe. chris, in all his buff glory, goes to pick the thing up from underneath, and he gets stung by a giant scorpion. really??!?! are you frickin kidding me scorpion?!?!? on chris' middle finger no less. and it, and a good portion of chris' arm went numb soon after. that kinda just stamped and sealed our whole moving process. a scorpion bite on the middle finger. nice touch...
anyway, the next day chris and i found ourselves in a serious funk. i went to work for a few hours. as i drove to work i found myself in the perfect pathetic fallacy. it was a hot sunny day, the mark of a bright new day and start for our family. but it suddenly started raining, though the sky maintained it sunny appearance. ah! perfection. i was definitely trying to keep up a sunny and cheerful front but i was definitely crying inside! i was so physically tired. i was so tired of moving. i was so disappointed we weren't in a house yet. i was kinda just pissed at life and doubting a lot of decisions that chris and i had made that had brought us to the place where we were at. did we make a wrong turn somewhere? were we being greedy and selfish and a ton of other unflattering things?
when it comes down to it, we keep moving because we are trying to secure our financial future. i know it sounds crazy to still think real estate can be part of anyone's financial future, but God has really blessed us with our 1.5 homes (jeehon owns half of one) that are being rented out right now and this next house (should we ever get to officially purchase it...) is going to be a real steal of a deal. what would you sacrifice for your family's future? our sacrifice is our comfort about 1 week a year. (my in-laws unfortunately have to sacrifice a bit too...)
anyhoo... this is a pretty long post so i should probably wrap it up now. but my kids are still napping so i will add this one verse that i was reminded of while driving in the sunshiny rain in the midst of my joys and woes:
"Let us acknowledge the Lord;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth."
- hosea 6:3
so as always, God is good. He and nothing else. definitely not me. i started off this week on sunday with an 'F' attitude (as in failing. not anything else. well...) anyway, it's thursday and i am doing better. i'm no all-star so i haven't been able to pull myself up to an A+ attitude just yet. i have not had a ton of internet access, which is good cause it makes me waste my time a lot less. and makes me have quiet time more. i am living in a beautiful, very well-decorated home, that belongs to two people who really love the crap out of me and my family. and they also happen to love Glee, so we had a great time watching the season premiere of that on Tuesday all together. i could not be more blessed. though you wouldn't always know it from my attitude. but i'm working on it!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
crazy hair days. fun for everyone
i really really really should finish up packing (aka throwing the leftover stuff that hasn't been put in boxes yet into trash bags and declutter my life!)
but i really wanted to write this post before we put the computer away tomorrow.
this month at lily's preschool is 'color circus'. the kids dress up in a certain color everyday. then on tueday they also added an extra element of fun- crazy hair. lily's back to her old habit of undoing my hair-dos while she sits in the car, which a little bit drives me nuts, but she's 3. what can you do? and actually, the day before crazy hair day, we were just running around town and she pulled out her hair elastics while i was driving, and she said: "look at me mom! i pulled out my hair fings!" ("fings"="things") i was not happy to see all of my hard work of brushing, then parting, then elasticizing her hair go to waste. i asked her why she did thaet in my not happy voice. i realized it wasn't a big deal and i felt bad for using my not happy voice. but of course, i was made to feel a million times worse when lily looked up at me and said: "i'm sorry. do you forgive me?"
sucky mother moment.
anyway, this is supposed to be a post about crazy hair, not crazy mom.
so here is a pic of lily- while we are still at home. getting ready for school (and of course, the hair style did not make it through the car ride! which is ok! don't sweat the small stuff.. don't sweat the small stuff...)
when i was teaching at taht crazy school in korea 7 years ago, we had a 'crazy hair day' too. but ours was way more serious than this little thing at lily's school. why? cause the people i worked with were crazy, which is why i LOVED going to work. i showed up looking kind of crazy, but when i noticed the wig one of my friends was wearing, and the awesome checker pattern another friend had shaed into his head, i decided to step it up a notch. i needed a hair cut anyway, so i started chopping off random chunks of my hair. the guys i worked with took some of my hair, taped it up, and used it for mustaches. gross. i know. but so funny. i guess you had to be there.
so here is a pic of two awesome guys i worked with, who have since turned into missionaries in africa and the middle east. what a blessing to have friends who are believers, and are also a little bit nuts:
we named the 'little guy' on jono's elbow. i can't remember his name. but his locks of love came from me!
but i really wanted to write this post before we put the computer away tomorrow.
this month at lily's preschool is 'color circus'. the kids dress up in a certain color everyday. then on tueday they also added an extra element of fun- crazy hair. lily's back to her old habit of undoing my hair-dos while she sits in the car, which a little bit drives me nuts, but she's 3. what can you do? and actually, the day before crazy hair day, we were just running around town and she pulled out her hair elastics while i was driving, and she said: "look at me mom! i pulled out my hair fings!" ("fings"="things") i was not happy to see all of my hard work of brushing, then parting, then elasticizing her hair go to waste. i asked her why she did thaet in my not happy voice. i realized it wasn't a big deal and i felt bad for using my not happy voice. but of course, i was made to feel a million times worse when lily looked up at me and said: "i'm sorry. do you forgive me?"
sucky mother moment.
anyway, this is supposed to be a post about crazy hair, not crazy mom.
so here is a pic of lily- while we are still at home. getting ready for school (and of course, the hair style did not make it through the car ride! which is ok! don't sweat the small stuff.. don't sweat the small stuff...)
when i was teaching at taht crazy school in korea 7 years ago, we had a 'crazy hair day' too. but ours was way more serious than this little thing at lily's school. why? cause the people i worked with were crazy, which is why i LOVED going to work. i showed up looking kind of crazy, but when i noticed the wig one of my friends was wearing, and the awesome checker pattern another friend had shaed into his head, i decided to step it up a notch. i needed a hair cut anyway, so i started chopping off random chunks of my hair. the guys i worked with took some of my hair, taped it up, and used it for mustaches. gross. i know. but so funny. i guess you had to be there.
so here is a pic of two awesome guys i worked with, who have since turned into missionaries in africa and the middle east. what a blessing to have friends who are believers, and are also a little bit nuts:
we named the 'little guy' on jono's elbow. i can't remember his name. but his locks of love came from me!
Friday, September 17, 2010
happy birthday grandma
i suck at mailing stuff. i want to be good at it. but i just suck. i meant to send something to my niece for her first birthday (which is tomorrow). since i haven't even bought anything yet, you can only imagine how belated her gift will be once it finally gets to alabama. why did you move zoe?!?!?!? now i really look like a bad aunt.
but i'm going to blame my negligence on the fact that we are moving out of this apartment tomorrow and sunday. i am presently sitting on our temporary 'couch', which is really an air mattress with an additional blow-up part that makes the back prop up like a seat. ghetto. and fabulous. the only thing chris registered for on our bridal registry. and of course he got it from a groomsman. thanks perrys. we use this thing every time we move. which means we use it VERY OFTEN!
anyway, this is a little ode to my beautiful grandmama, who just turned a year older, (and wiser!) on thursday. i am not exactly sure of her exact age, but just know that she can be found on facebook where she keeps up with the many many watsons and her other 100+ friends.
i think i mentioned before that i haven't had a grandmother since i was in the third grade. so having gradma watson after not having had one for about 16 years really made up for lost time!
there's a popular shirt that little kids wear that says: "what happens at grandma's stays at grandma's." not true with grandma watson. cause what happens at, or with grandma, is growth, and you can't just keep that bottled in. grandma is a wise, disciplined, and loving woman. watching how she loves her husband, hearing how she raised her boys (4 outstanding men!), seeing her face light up when she is hanging out with her greatgrandkids, watching her dote on her sister who has terminal cancer without ceasing even though she herself is a little bit pooped out! it's amazing! this woman is amazing. and i am beyond blessed to have her as a grandma and close friend. she encourages me to do better at all things- being a mom, a wife, a child of God, follower of Jesus. not just through her words (though she always has great words of encouragement, which is good for me since i am a words of affirmation kind of girl.) but definitely through her example.
grandma! i am so sorry i didn't send you a card in the mail. but just know that i love you so very very much, and you are an inspiration! happy belated birthday.
but i'm going to blame my negligence on the fact that we are moving out of this apartment tomorrow and sunday. i am presently sitting on our temporary 'couch', which is really an air mattress with an additional blow-up part that makes the back prop up like a seat. ghetto. and fabulous. the only thing chris registered for on our bridal registry. and of course he got it from a groomsman. thanks perrys. we use this thing every time we move. which means we use it VERY OFTEN!
anyway, this is a little ode to my beautiful grandmama, who just turned a year older, (and wiser!) on thursday. i am not exactly sure of her exact age, but just know that she can be found on facebook where she keeps up with the many many watsons and her other 100+ friends.
i think i mentioned before that i haven't had a grandmother since i was in the third grade. so having gradma watson after not having had one for about 16 years really made up for lost time!
there's a popular shirt that little kids wear that says: "what happens at grandma's stays at grandma's." not true with grandma watson. cause what happens at, or with grandma, is growth, and you can't just keep that bottled in. grandma is a wise, disciplined, and loving woman. watching how she loves her husband, hearing how she raised her boys (4 outstanding men!), seeing her face light up when she is hanging out with her greatgrandkids, watching her dote on her sister who has terminal cancer without ceasing even though she herself is a little bit pooped out! it's amazing! this woman is amazing. and i am beyond blessed to have her as a grandma and close friend. she encourages me to do better at all things- being a mom, a wife, a child of God, follower of Jesus. not just through her words (though she always has great words of encouragement, which is good for me since i am a words of affirmation kind of girl.) but definitely through her example.
grandma! i am so sorry i didn't send you a card in the mail. but just know that i love you so very very much, and you are an inspiration! happy belated birthday.
Monday, September 13, 2010
game time is...
a time of high emotions. good times. lots and lots of disappointing and bitter and sad times. yes, it's football season again, and my stupid arizona cardinals loving husband couldn't be happier! (mostly cause the cards managed to magically win their first game.) also, chris has started playing in a community basketball league, and he also happened to have his first basketball game on sunday after the cardinals' victory. chris' team dominated, and so chris was walking around with the biggest grin on his face. sports. they can make him feel things, that i, as his wife, and best friend, and mother to his children, still cannot.
sunday could have been an annoying sports/chris-centric day, if it hadn't been for how hilarious the kids were. they love sports too! or they love to yell, and watching sports is a great outlet for them to scream at people, without getting in trouble themselves. while watching the cardinals game with his dad, topher was yelling all sorts of crazy things. and at the right times! when the cardinals did something right (oh so rarely so topher really had to be on his toes to catch those opportunities) topher cheered- even before chris did. but when chris would be upset by one of their fumbles or other football follies, chris would grunt and yell, and then topher would let out a giant: "oh gosh!" and then he wanted chris to mimic him, so topher started to encourage chris: "dad, say: 'oh gosh!' " and he would wait. no response. "dad, say: 'oh gosh!' " he did this a handful of times. chris did not say 'oh gosh!' cause topher was being too funny and so he couldn't really say anything.
then after watching the cardinals game, we went to a junior high school where a bunch of grown (some over-grown), sweaty men gathered in a not-very-well air conditioned gym to disply their manliness to the crowds that had gathered to watch them play. aka their families. we had a great time cheering for #8. definite NBA potential... but lily and topher were yelling the funniest things while chris played.
lily: "go dad! you can do it! hey dad! look! i'm over here! hey dad!" and of course, chris looked over, which made lily so happy.
topher: "great job dad! you're doing great! ... oh gosh!..."
hopefully this is the right video, but for some reason i told the kids chris was going the wrong way (away from his basket) and then all of a sudden the kids started yelling really really loudly that he was going the wrong way. a lot of the other spectators were very amused. moms and wives of course.
anwyay, sunday happened to be a really great day for sports in the watson household. there will be some days of mixed emotions, and other days of just bad bad bad emotions. and the Suns are gearing up for their season in a bit over a month too, which will just add an extra dimension of emotions. but for now, we are happy to have spent such a happy and success-filled sunday
sunday could have been an annoying sports/chris-centric day, if it hadn't been for how hilarious the kids were. they love sports too! or they love to yell, and watching sports is a great outlet for them to scream at people, without getting in trouble themselves. while watching the cardinals game with his dad, topher was yelling all sorts of crazy things. and at the right times! when the cardinals did something right (oh so rarely so topher really had to be on his toes to catch those opportunities) topher cheered- even before chris did. but when chris would be upset by one of their fumbles or other football follies, chris would grunt and yell, and then topher would let out a giant: "oh gosh!" and then he wanted chris to mimic him, so topher started to encourage chris: "dad, say: 'oh gosh!' " and he would wait. no response. "dad, say: 'oh gosh!' " he did this a handful of times. chris did not say 'oh gosh!' cause topher was being too funny and so he couldn't really say anything.
then after watching the cardinals game, we went to a junior high school where a bunch of grown (some over-grown), sweaty men gathered in a not-very-well air conditioned gym to disply their manliness to the crowds that had gathered to watch them play. aka their families. we had a great time cheering for #8. definite NBA potential... but lily and topher were yelling the funniest things while chris played.
lily: "go dad! you can do it! hey dad! look! i'm over here! hey dad!" and of course, chris looked over, which made lily so happy.
topher: "great job dad! you're doing great! ... oh gosh!..."
hopefully this is the right video, but for some reason i told the kids chris was going the wrong way (away from his basket) and then all of a sudden the kids started yelling really really loudly that he was going the wrong way. a lot of the other spectators were very amused. moms and wives of course.
anwyay, sunday happened to be a really great day for sports in the watson household. there will be some days of mixed emotions, and other days of just bad bad bad emotions. and the Suns are gearing up for their season in a bit over a month too, which will just add an extra dimension of emotions. but for now, we are happy to have spent such a happy and success-filled sunday
Thursday, September 9, 2010
what i can and cannot do
- i can put my kids to bed at a decent time. i can put my kids down at a not decent time. i cannot make them fall asleep.
- i can try my best to tire the heck out of my kids so that they will be really really tired when they go to bed. i cannot cause them to stay asleep until 8am (which is what i really really want! though at this point i will also take 6:15am!)
- i can put healthy food in front of my kids every day, 3 times a day. i cannot make them eat it and swallow it and digest it.
- i can hide junk food from my kids. i cannot keep them from finding it and eating it. and they do! every time! they're such crafty toddlers...
- i can show my kids the right way to treat others and speak to them. i cannot control every impulse or action they make, or filter every word that comes out of their mouths. (but i know i can keep trying to train them!)
- i can tell my kids to hug and kiss people. but i cannot make them love those people. even if they are our family. (i mean this mostly for the family members they never really get to see. like my poor brothers!!!!)
- i can tell my kids not to hug and kiss people later in life. but i probably cannot actually control that either. (but i bet you chris is going to try really hard on this one. surveillance is one of his fortes and all.)
- i can try to be organized with the toys, mail, coupons, general things of life. i cannot keep it up for more than a few short days.
- i can make my kids laugh all the livelong day. i cannot get tired of hearing that wonderful noise!
- i can spend a lot of time doing other things instead of hanging out with my kids- make dinner, do the dishes, fold laundry, etc, etc. but i cannot get that time back.
- i can lead a million small groups. but unless i have some meaningful quiet time and focus on my own growth, i cannot be an effective leader for long.
- i can tell my kids to pee or poo on the potty. i cannot make pee or poo come out of their bodies (that's a little piece of mind for you moms who are potty training! but when we used to have our little dog, meeklo, if you scared him, he would pee on the floor. every frickin time. miss that dumb dog...)
- i can tell my family and friends i love them till i'm blue in the face. but i cannot make them believe it without actually making efforts to grow our relationships through spending time together. even if it's mostly e-mails and text messages due to distance and my lack of owning a jet plane!!!!
- i can try my best to tire the heck out of my kids so that they will be really really tired when they go to bed. i cannot cause them to stay asleep until 8am (which is what i really really want! though at this point i will also take 6:15am!)
- i can put healthy food in front of my kids every day, 3 times a day. i cannot make them eat it and swallow it and digest it.
- i can hide junk food from my kids. i cannot keep them from finding it and eating it. and they do! every time! they're such crafty toddlers...
- i can show my kids the right way to treat others and speak to them. i cannot control every impulse or action they make, or filter every word that comes out of their mouths. (but i know i can keep trying to train them!)
- i can tell my kids to hug and kiss people. but i cannot make them love those people. even if they are our family. (i mean this mostly for the family members they never really get to see. like my poor brothers!!!!)
- i can tell my kids not to hug and kiss people later in life. but i probably cannot actually control that either. (but i bet you chris is going to try really hard on this one. surveillance is one of his fortes and all.)
- i can try to be organized with the toys, mail, coupons, general things of life. i cannot keep it up for more than a few short days.
- i can make my kids laugh all the livelong day. i cannot get tired of hearing that wonderful noise!
- i can spend a lot of time doing other things instead of hanging out with my kids- make dinner, do the dishes, fold laundry, etc, etc. but i cannot get that time back.
- i can lead a million small groups. but unless i have some meaningful quiet time and focus on my own growth, i cannot be an effective leader for long.
- i can tell my kids to pee or poo on the potty. i cannot make pee or poo come out of their bodies (that's a little piece of mind for you moms who are potty training! but when we used to have our little dog, meeklo, if you scared him, he would pee on the floor. every frickin time. miss that dumb dog...)
- i can tell my family and friends i love them till i'm blue in the face. but i cannot make them believe it without actually making efforts to grow our relationships through spending time together. even if it's mostly e-mails and text messages due to distance and my lack of owning a jet plane!!!!
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