Sunday, February 28, 2010

Movie Night (and the dreams it sparked)

I LOVED reading The Time Travelers Wife and got a few of my friends to read it with the intention of having a girls night to watch the movie. Well if you know my life you know how incredibly busy it is with all the soccer games and practices, and work and meetings, and , and, and.... So you can imagine that trying to find a time with 4 other moms that are just as busy as I am, would be pretty durn difficult.

So last night Summer and I got together to for this months clothing swap, and watched the Time Travelers Wive. It had been a while since I had read the book, but I was VERY pleased with the movie and how well it followed the love story. Summer had just finished reading it and she thought it was well done too! There were elements and scenes that we both thought should have been in the movie, but understand why they weren't- for time's sake... But I am pleased to announce that I made it through the movie with dry(er) eyes than I had while reading the book. I only teared up at the end (and if you know the book or movie, you know what I mean). I was once again touched by the strength of the bond that held a couple together when time could not... Good thing I get to watch it again with the rest of the group that read the book!

After our movie was over her husband fed us yummy Talapia with ravioli, and suggested another movie... Law Abiding Citizen. So I went and got the rest of my family and enjoyed Gerard Butler in this great movie. Brian and I watched this movie in the theater and really enjoyed it, and were once again entertained with it. It tipped my normally passive political self into a rant that I will share at a later date... but a great movie, though it was a bit gorier than I had remembered.

Once I finally laid my head down and drifted to sleep.... I had amazing dreams of time traveling love it was great to allow my brain to carry on it's own sequel to The Time Travelers Wife... I don't remember it as vividly as I do many of my dreams, but I remember my heart swelling at the amount of love I felt between the two characters and the desire I had to make every moment I had with my love be enjoyed to the fullest, and the heart ache I felt when they were ripped apart...

Learned: A lesson learned and soon NOT forgotten: cherish the one your with while you have them to cherish.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Maddox Being Maddox


I can not believe how fast this kid is growing...physically and intellectually.

Currently he is 3 (though that will change in just a few months) and is completely grown into 5T clothes. ALL of the 4T's we bought him over Christmas are high water or belly shirts. Which I guess is ok considering my next tid bit:

This morning while trying to find clothes for the boy I discovered that he had only one pair of jeans (out of 6) that did not have a hole in the knee. So I threw those on him for school today. When I picked him up... sure enough he had a gaping hole in the knee of these too! When I asked him is he slid around on the floor at school like he was sliding into a base, he said "Mom, the hole in my pants is because I am growing, not from playing." No son, the bare ankles I see and you belly button sticking out of your shirt with sleeves up to the middle of your forearms is because you are growing; you have holes in ALL the pairs of jeans we own because you are a boy...

As a kid I rarely remember knowing where I was while traveling around town in the car, let alone rules of the road, but Maddox seems to be all to aware. When I picked him up from school he told me that if we went straight we would get home or we could turn right and that would also take us home, amazingly he was correct! Then while reading "Go Dog Go" before bed he noticed that the traffic light in the picture only had red and green and told me that "in real life the lights have yellow which means SLOW DOWN!"

Now he is on a kick telling everyone how to spell his name. It is so cute to hear him describe his "d's" as circles with lines going up.

Learned: I am just having a mommy moment and it is hard to believe that he is growing up at what seems to be warp speed. I keep looking at him thinking that I have to get in all the squeezes and smooches I can because when I blink again he will be 12 and that won't be too cool any more. Then I'll blink again and he will be 18 and other girls will start moving in...{sigh}... to hard to have your babies grow up...

Dead As A Doornail



I have been a reading machine. In this edition of the Sookie chronicles Sookie finds the shifters around her being targeted- literally. One has already died, and two others have been injured. Sookie soon finds herself in the midst of werewolf politics, vampire negotiations and retaliations, a raging house fire, a suspect in a disappearance, and becoming a jealous ex-girlfriend. It is no wonder her life is so messed up and full of drama, with all the supernatural friends she keeps around, but will these friends be able to save her when it is her life on the line this time....


Learned: I am still mystified as to why these books are categorized as "horror", not so scary, more mystery, silly, entertaining....

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Last of the Elementary School Performances

Monday night we went to the final elementary performance for Madison. It was bitter sweet. In all the years that we have gone, I have always been frustrated by how the kids are so noisy when changing between songs, and the squeaky recorders grate on my nerves. This year I was pleasantly surprised, their teacher had them chanting some of the songs melodies during the transitions which cut back on the amount of noise. Also the music was much better, the kids had better rhythm, and the recorders seemed to be better practiced. The actual program was much more well done and pretty cute too!

Madison and I had gone shopping for her outfit Sunday night, and searched high and low for something. She is in a difficult spot right now because she is too grown up for a lot of the kids clothes, but not quite big enough for the teeny bopper stuff. But I was happy with what she ended up with and she was thrilled because she got to wear her cute new cons she got for Valentines day, and her shirt pointed out how much she loved them.







Learned: 5 years of practice, and the elementary performance was much improved. I just can't believe that she will be in Middle School next year!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Dead to the World


Yep still enjoying this series. More and more mythical creatures continue to show them selves in Sookie's world. This time witches and fairies are threatening to keep Sookie from her New Years resolution of not getting beat up. Bill is continuing his project and has left for Peru, and Eric is threatening to take his place in Sookie's life, bed, and heart... just one problem, Eric isn't Eric at least not mentally. The enormous responsibility of taking care of Eric, only gets more complicated when Sookie's brother goes missing.

Learned? Eric made me forget about Bill in this one....

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Blink Of An Eye



I am a huge fan of Ted Dekker; I love how wonderfully he weaves elements of Christianity with action, adventure, thrill, and romance. He once again captivate me for a few days in Blink Of An Eye; a tale of two cultures that collide together for an adventure that spans from California to the Middle East.

In this fast reading novel, Dekker explores one Saudi Princess fight for her life and love and refusal to play her part as a pawn in a change of power in the Middle Eastern Country. In her fleeing attempt to save her own life and possible the future of her country, she is miraculously rescued by a genius in Southern California, who has just recently acquired the ability of precognition. Through all of the action, all of the thrill, Dekker illuminates the second greatest command that God gave us, to love, and the power and freedom that comes when we choose to love.

Learned: One of my favorite quotes was about prayer, and it is the most powerful weapon we have here on Earth.

Maddox's First Ski Trip

Monday February 15 we took Maddox skiing for the first time. He was so exctied to go that the night before he put on his skis in the house. The next morning he was bubbling over with excitement the whole way up to the slopes, with a constant stream of talking coming out of him.

When we first got up there we had him try out his ski legs in the little bowl and he had great balance, and immediately wanted to go up the chair lift. So we got in line and headed up the hill with no mishaps on the first or any of the trips up the hill.

He got frustrated with me making him go slower than he wanted with the harness we used to teach Madison. But quickly got the hang of things. (like before we got to the bottom of the first hill, quick).

Brian and Madison decided to take a few runs on the big hill while Maddox and I kept working on turns. Maddox and I met back up with Madison and Brian after we ate, and Brian continued the lessons while I went back to the truck (I was feeling the first effects of the flue that plagued me for the the next 24 hours).

I was so proud of Maddox, I knew those huge thighs I mean strong legs, would help him out some day! It is a great memory, and reminds me of when we taught Madison.



Learned: Seeing your kids ski, and beam with the joy of skiing, is amazing!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Club Dead



I flew through this book, finishing it in less than a day! When I first started reading it, and found out that Sookie's vampire lover was missing, then that he was going to leave her I thought... oh great, there goes the story... But I was impressed with Sookie's resolve to go ahead and find him, and then stand up for herself and not fall back into his arms... I have always been pleasantly surprised that she is able to say enough is enough and cut her vampire ties, even if it only lasts for a few weeks.

I have to say I was hoping that she would actually have a relationship with her super hot werewolf escort...maybe later...

Learned: I FINALLY figured out who Bubba was... I did figure it out before it was blatantly said in this book. Bubba is the VERY famous singer who upon his death bed was changed into a vampire, but the crossover didn't go so well, and well he is a bit odd... maybe dense... but the point is for the last two books I couldn't picture who he actually was in his former life, but now I totally get it!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Green


Some of the first books that I really got lost in as an adult were Black, Red, and White by Ted Dekker. These books captivated me with a great story line weaving good and evil in two alternate realities; where in one the spiritual is represented physically. There was plenty of action and romance, and full of the TRUTH of God's love for us.

In the most recent, and final book in the Circle series, Dekker brings to books to a complete circle - pun completely intended. He even states that you could begin with Green or Black... and I must admit when I first started reading this book I wasn't so sure I agreed with that statement, but now that I have finished I completely agree... though I would recommend starting with Black.

Green felt a lot more dark and full of the evil that has overtaken both of the worlds. But even in the midst of the darkness, when all hope feels lost, this book shows that all is not lost if we trust in God, the one who loves us, gives us the ability to love, and yearns for us to love him in return.

Though it took me a lot longer to read than the others, it wasn't because I wasn't completely lost in it, but that life kept getting in the way. All the times that I was (so rudely) interrupted, it made it a bit difficult to follow the multiple story lines both in the past and in the future. It had also been a really long time since I had read the other books, so I was having difficulty remembering some of what happened, but since this book is meant to be the beginning OR the end to the series, that didn't really matter. The only think that I guffawed at was Dekker's inclusion (very minuscule) of vampires... I just didn't think that fit.

All in all, it was VERY enjoyable, and I would recommend reading this as the beginning or end of your adventure with the Ciicle series!

Learned: God is faithful in all of his promises, trust HIM even in the darkest of your hours... Ted Dekker has an amazing talent to write amazing fiction laced with the TRUTH of God's word.

Learned:

Monday, February 8, 2010

Super Bowl 40

Great Friends: Check
At first I didn't want to do anything for the Super Bowl because I wanted to sit at home and not have any distractions, and hosting a party might have got in the way of the game. Then my friend Ari, who is as big of a Peyton fan as I am, and I talked and decided since we were of like mind we would enjoy the game together.

Great Food: Check
I got up Sunday and made some homemade spaghetti sauce and sausage rolls to take over, prepped guacamole, and hummus. While Ari made this amazing buffalo chicken dip and meat ball sandwiches. We had great cookies (sugar cookies in X and O shapes with blue and white frosting) and monkey balls (aka sticky buns). It was all so delish that I am still full today!

Great Clothes and Accessories: Check
I of course had on my Manning jersey, so did Madison, she also had a blue hair piece. Air wore her blue, and we painted our toe nails blue too... it was blue-tiful

Great Game: ... well not so much...
Great game in the sense that it was exciting to watch, but what was definitely not so great was the outcome. Ari and I just sat there for a good 30 minutes after the game staring at the TV in complete shock. Such a sad, sad day for us Colts fans.

Learned? Peyton handled the loss with such poise and dignity that I just can't help but still love him.

Note: I put Brian in charge of taking pictures of the event, since I wanted no distractions... so I will post what he took as soon as they are downloaded.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Running In Circles - Literally

~ from pr.caltec.edu

This week it dawned on me that I could get my runs in before I picked up the kids from school. So Monday I took my running stuff with me to work, only to be thwarted by a meeting I had forgotten about. So today was take two... I got all the way changed into my running clothes, and they called an emergency staff meeting as I was walking out the door. By the time the meeting was over I didn't have enough time to run. I thought that the universe had it out for me and my running plan until...

I sucked it up and ran at the track while Madison had soccer practice. Yep running the track is sure B-O-R-I-N-G! The only nice thing is the surface is super squishy and nice for my knees. When I was done with my 3 miles, I ran 4 sets of stairs on the bleachers (total burn in my butt!).

It was great to exert my strength over the powers of the universe, and get out there and run when the whole world seemed bent on preventing it!

Learned? 12 laps on the track seems WAY longer than a 1.5 mile out and back...