You Don't See That Every Day

When you live with a person, day in and day out, you often don't see the resemblance of them and their siblings, or parents. Back when G was a kid, he had 9 teeth pulled out (on the same day!) And his jaw was never the same after the orthodontia he had done. But during a conversation the other day, he stuck his jaw out and I was struck by how much he looked like our son (go figure). So once I got them to stop clowning around, I got a better side-by-side picture of them, See the resemblance? So of course, they had to take one of my and the girl who has the same hair type as I do. I don't see the resemblance.  Of course, my hair is a wild, unruly mess, and her's is nicely showered and smooth ...  

We've been getting this question a lot Are you done with your remodel? And, um, no, we aren't. G has been working on it whenever he can, but with traveling a lot for work, it doesn't leave much extra time to work upstairs. Work, family activities, kids' sports and events, extended family activity - they don't leave much time. But he's been plugging away at it. When I went up yesterday morning, the walls looked like this: And then G and the Boy worked on one of the rooms until after supper last night. So when I went up to look this morning, I saw this: Oh glory! it looks almost painted! The last coat of mud has been put on! The next step for this room is texture and paint. I might get to paint the Boy's room next weekend. (Orange, of course! - one or two walls, not the whole room)  

It was time to unload all the photos from my cameras today. And I even found time to do a little blogging. What a week! My husband was able to work from home part of the week, so the computer was not readily accessible to me. It was sure nice to have him around though! I made these cream puffs and they did not last long at all. We devoured them! I went through the boxes and boxes of baby clothes that I have had stored in our 'playroom'. It's all part of my de-clutter and minimalism effort. Plus, I'm pretty dang sure we don't need the baby clothes anymore! The girls' book reports this past week were 'dioramas' that portrayed a scene in the book or an important idea from it. All three wanted to make one - so we've got the kindergartner's book, Bailey goes Camping The 3rd grader did "Princess Alice and the Glass Slipper": And the 5th grader did a Boxcar Children book: In the middle of the week we took part of the day off

What do you value in this life? Does what you value here affect what happens when you die? Just some thoughts running through my mind today. We got a link in our email inbox today and both my husband and I found it pretty powerful. I'm not one to be very pushy but I think this one's good. We've learned all our lives that our actions affect others around us. You know, like in our young school years when we were given the illustration about a stone being thrown into a pond, and the ripple effect ... Well, it carries on into our adult lives. What we do now, what we say now, what we watch, hear, think, feel, act out, vote upon, it all has an effect somewhere down the line. At some point our choices today - whether good or bad - will have an effect on our lives and who-knows-how-many other lives out there. If you haven't seen it yet, please take a moment to stop and watch it and think about it. Thanks. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=D9vQt6IXXaM&amp ; And tha

  I've been baking. But not just because the weather has turned to rain again. It was my husband's night to bring supper to the deacon meeting. And since I don't cook too well, I knew I could at least bake something that would turn out. So I've tried: Brownies, cookies, and these beauties: cream puffs! I settled on the brownies to send away, and kept these awesome creations. They are so super simple to make and so super delish to eat. It's a good thing we have neighbors to give them to and a sister to share with (oh, and 5 hungry minions!), or I would have eaten them ALL. All I can say is my sister better get here soon or the 3 remaining puffs might be ... gone.

We went out to the farm last Friday, and spent a little while weeding. I thought I would mess around with video-making and see what came up.

I love people watching. It can be so fun. So enlightening. So ... interesting. Do you ever make up stories about people you see? Or is this just a quirk of mine? My brain has to have something to think about while I drive! So each day I go to pick up The Boy from school, I pass all kinds of people. Today I saw the Postman who looks kind of like Hulk Hogan. Long blonde hair, mustache, buff arms. I think he is actually H.H. living here in our town, posing as a mailman to get away from the paparazzi. And then there's The Runner. This guy is either punching the air while he runs - shirtless most of the time- or rockin on his iTunes. Either way he usually looks like he's high on something. I wonder what he is training for. Today I saw a new intriguing sight. I passed by a man, running down the street with a Macy's bag in his arm. He was dressed in a white t-shirt, and tan Carhartt's; looked like he just gotten off work; he was running towards the work-truck, the kind with

I love the beach. I once lived at the beach. The summers in between college years, I was living with my sister and family in a beach town. And even though Oregon beaches are cold all year long, with the exception of one or two days, i still love the beach. The smell, the sounds, the amazing vastness of it all, the awesome views of God's creation. Doesn't this tree stump look like a foot?! I think it is the same stump that has been floating around there for the past few years. Every time we go to this beach, the kids have climbed on it ... until this time. So for Mother's Day we went to the beach - but we went the day AFTER everyone else was there. We went on Monday. G took the day off, we almost pulled the Boy out of school, but for various reasons did not, and so the 4 girls, G and I went to the beach. And it was so cold. The wind was the main culprit, without it, the day would have been pleasant. But that didn't deter the kids much, They still ran along the

Yeah - this is about 3 days later now, but I was on vacation (which you'll see in the next post) Mother's day and all you know... We're off and running again. The Big Day has come - Miss M's first race. She has been training with me for about a month now. Back before my half-marathon I would take her out once in awhile when I could fit it into the schedule. Afterwards I tried to make more effort to get her out and running. And she was always ready to go. So this past week we worked her up to 2.5 miles. With some walking.  I wasn't sure how this race would go. She has never in her life run 3.1 miles. But this Saturday she did it! With only one walk, because I Made Her Stop and Walk up a hill! My girl amazed and delighted us. She kept up the pace the whole time, and really enjoyed passing people! She ran the whole thing in 31 minutes and 19 seconds. Wow! I think the deal her dad made her at the start of the race also motivated her - ice cream if

My girl turned 2 last month. And I looked high and low for just the right gift for her,. There are plenty of toys in our house, and books, and dolls, and other stuff. With 4 older siblings, this girl has plenty to choose from each day. So I wanted to get something just for her. I tried various venues and considered a few I found in the store. But I just wasn't about to pay $$ for the trike they were selling, and it wasn't exactly what I had in mind. When I was a little girl I had a push trike in the shape of a ladybug. 4 wheels, and large seat, 2 handles, no pedals - it was very basic, but perfect. So last Friday the girls and I were out looking at garage sales. Some friends are heading to Uganda to pick up their adoptive child, and we were searching for clothes to send with them, to give to the orphanage.  And we stumbled upon The Perfect Gift. I could almost hear the angels singing. Little K. saw it before I could get to it. She sat on it and smiled. And so I s

It's been quiet here this week. Not too much out of the ordinary happening. Here are some seriously random ramblings spewing from my brain: Today is my son's last track meet. And I can't make it to see him run. It was hard to accept that, but I've moved on. I'm looking forward to hearing how he did. And kind of hoping he'll call in between time to tell me. I've got a lot of thoughts running through my head concerning money. Specifically lack of it, or how to stretch it. How do we raise our 5 children on the single income we have? How do we get out of debt? I'm thinking Thoughts (with a capital T). I might even unscramble them enough to write about it. Feel free to offer suggestions. I made some awesome zucchini bread the other day.  I bought 25 pounds of oats awhile back because we were using them so fast. So I am looking at everything I bake with the idea of adding oats to it. And Zucchini-Oat bread is delicious! I'll have to rummage that 2-re

The sun comes out in Oregon occasionally. And we all drink it with relish. Until it beats down upon us and we natives begin to complain about the heat. But today was beautiful and I was able to convince my husband to take a walk as a family. We headed to a park and loaded up the little one. She loves the pack - and it's a great workout for me! The kids enjoyed it too. I am so thankful my kids like to be outside with us and do things together as a family; throw a few rocks, gather a few sticks, look around at the gorgeous world God made .... What I love about this picture - they are enjoying each other! I watched as they walked and talked, actually getting along nicely :   And this ... this is what you get when you give a girl a camera. She takes silly pictures of her sister.     Yeah I'd be looking at her strangely too. Actually this statues' eyes looked a little creepy to me. Most statues don't have much 'life' in their fac