Silly Is As Silly Does

We had an impromtu silly photo shoot this afternoon. Here are a few of my favorites...

(Megan has the look of a serious musician, don't you think?)

Thankful

I realize now that as a child I didn’t really get the meaning of Thanksgiving. I thought of it as the anniversary of the great feast of our forefathers. You know…pilgrims and Native Americans feasting together on their new found abundances. I’m sure my lack of appreciation had a lot to do with the fact that I was fortunate enough to grow up not knowing the real meaning of wanting. In my naivety, I took for granted all that I was surrounded by.

As an adult, I have gained a mature appreciation for today’s holiday. As I approach the fortieth anniversary of my life, I have been exposed to more people and the hardships many others face in this world. I can recognize all that I have been blessed with and can better appreciate the meaning of a holiday dedicated to celebrating all that I have to be thankful for.

Following is a much abbreviated list of just a few of those things:

A loving, supportive and smoking hot husband that makes me laugh every day and has been a partner in creating this amazing life we share.

For two lovely daughters that have helped me to prioritize what truly matters in life and enrich my life as I never even imagined two people could.

For parents that love me and were committed to providing me with the means to succeed in everything I’ve endeavored to do.

For in-laws that have generously shared their son and brother with me and embraced me as a part of their family whole-heartidly.

For friendships that have endured over the many tests of time and in some cases great distances.

For a career that compensates me generously, allows me the freedom to be available to my family, and surrounds me with people I, for the most part, enjoy spending time with every day.

For modern day conveniences, especially on a day like today (I’m especially thanking the inventors of dishwashers, food processors and electricity a whole lot).

For living in a country that allows me the freedom to elect my leaders and to speak openly when they’ve disappointed me.

For a God that has blessed me with all of these people and the ability to surround myself with so many things to be grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Facebook Freak

Since I’ve been blogging, I’ve been introduced to a number of other hip internet channels. Like Twitter. Twitter seems like fun. A public forum for all my trivial random thoughts? Perfect! But I’ve resisted because I knew I’d become obsessed with it.

Recently my dear friend Kristin sends me an email suggesting I join Facebook. I respectfully ignored it for the same reason I have resisted Twitter. And because I remember losing hours of my life on classmates.com before my high school reunion. Kristin’s email has sat in my inbox…tempting me. Then we had dinner with a friend and she is on Facebook. It helps her keep in touch with both family and friends. Then I spent the weekend with an amazing group of women and at least half of them are on Facebook. They love it…and you can monitor who can see what…and there’s groups and networks…blah, blah, blah. That was the straw that broke this camel's back.

The last two days I’ve been crazy obsessed with it. Searching out and finding old, and current, friends. Reading and posting on walls. Adding photos. Lucky for me…and my productivity…my employer blocks the site on the office network. Otherwise I’d be on it even more than I am now. Steve came home the other night while I was on it. He casually informs me he is signed up on it for networking, but never goes on it. My reaction, “What?! You are?! You have to be my friend!” Did I mention crazy obsessed? But it really is fun getting reacquainted with old friends. I just found an old friend from Schenectady. That seems like a lifetime ago...oh wait...it's actually two-thirds of a lifetime ago. So I’m thinking that once this initial finding old friends part slows down, the novelty will wear off? Maybe??

In the meantime, if you know me…you can find me there. I’d just love to be your friend. ;-)

extraordinary

Last month I came across a story in the Living section of The Arizona Republic. It talked about a local couple that was critically injured in a small plane crash this past August. The husband has severe burns over 35% of this body and the wife 85%. While the couple has been recovering, their four children have been in the care of the wife's sisters. One of the sisters, Courtney, keeps a blog. The article took a blurb from one of Courtney's entries and I was immediately hooked. I love Courtney's prose, but what keeps me coming back is how amazing this family is. They are a true example of what extraordinary is. Both as a family and in their faith. They make me want to be a better person..as a mother, a wife, and a friend. If you have some time to catch up on the last four months, it is an amazing story. And I hope you find it as inspirational as I have.

Weekend Update

This weekend was one of those delightful weekends that we accomplished a lot, had a great time doing it and surprisingly it didn’t leave us with that overwhelmed feeling that requires an additional two days to recover from.

Friday evening we kicked off the weekend with Michelle, Woody, their three girls and a sushi dinner. The young ladies enjoyed a little independence at their end of the sushi belt while we enjoyed some adult conversation down at our end. A great time was had by all and we look forward to our next outing.

Saturday we got a lot of chores done around the house, including draining the pool for a fresh start refill. Here’s a picture of the girls playing around in the empty pool.


Saturday evening Steve and I enjoyed a dinner and a movie double date with Jim and Jill. Great dinner conversation with a few of my favorite people followed by 100 minutes of Daniel Craig as 007 on the big screen. What more could a girl ask for?

Emily spent Sunday playing with a few neighbors, Steve got to enjoy the Cardinals win over the Seahawks while Megan and I attended the birthday party of one of her "bestest" friends. Tonight we’re all relaxing with some early baths, more football, reading and blogging. Bliss.

Little People

This afternoon was spent overhauling the playroom. Cleaning, reorganizing, purging. It is one of those projects that provide a feeling of accomplishment when you are all done. Although I have to admit to it being a little bittersweet. You see Megan declared that these guys right here…





…are for babies. I’m happy to clear some of the space out of the closet. We have the Fisher-Price Little People farm, zoo, airport, school bus and all the people and animals that go with them. So packing them up opened up a lot of space. But I have to admit to being a little sad because these are my favorite toddler toys. You probably remember their predecessors from when we were young. The people were made out of wood back then and fit into the holes made just for them. Now they are plastic and probably drenched in lead paint. But the detail is darling. The furry beard on the goat. The flower lei and flip-flops on the airport’s tourist. The burp cloth over the mom’s shoulder. Too cute. Emily got the farm for her first birthday and we added on from there. I don’t remember Megan being as enamored with them as Emily, or me for that matter, but we’ve kept them around all this time.

I’m not sure I’m ready to part with these just yet. May be I can pack them up and hide them away somewhere so that I can play with them when a toddler happens to visit us again.

Hope

So today I find myself in a strange place. It has been difficult for me to find the appropriate words to express the feelings I’ve had over the last 24 hours. As the poll results came in from PA & OH last night, I admit to feeling disappointment. But then I began to feel elation. You see, although I do not agree with all of his political positions, I do admire his accomplishments as a human being. This man – a grandson, a son, a husband and a father to two young girls – has defied the odds. This man has broken down a barrier that sadly has remained in many corners of this country far too long. And for that I commend him. And that feeling…the one that I feel for him as a human being and for what he will represent forever in our history books…perhaps that is a feeling of hope.

No tricks but buckets of treats

Halloween was a relative success. Our very own Hannah Montana and Princess Belle joined the neighbors for Trick or Treating. We didn't cover as much ground as Em had planned. Her original aspiration of covering the entire neighborhood in four hours turned into one fifth of the neighborhood in an hour and a half (I'd be lying if I said I wish we had 5 times as much candy in the house). But the kids had a great time none the less and we enjoyed hanging out with the neighbors. My one regret...in the craziness of preparing for the big night I failed to get any pictures of the girls posing in their costumes. So this is what you get.