Bella's class is currently discussing Lewis and Clark so she did the one thing that comes second nature to todays young generation. She googled them. After google spit out the 2,897,543 possible links for them she accidentally clicked on the link for Lewis and Clark College. I quickly grabbed the mouse, hit the back arrow and made a joke about how she was way too young to be looking into college.
Bella looked at me and announced "I already know where I want to go."
At this point my jaw dropped open and I made a sound that probably sounded like a cat being stangled. Bella mistook this sound as further interest on my part.
"I want to go to Loras," she declared with more confidence than I ever had at age 8.
I then responded like the rational level headed person I am. "What? Where did you even hear about that college and it's existence? Are you just saying this because you once overheard your dad say that his kids will never go to Loras because everyone who goes there feels like they have to mention it in every single conversation they have?"
Bella is looking at me with this bewildered look on her face and laughing at me at the same time. This might have to do with the fact that my voice has risen to an octive I have never once thought possible for me to reach. I'm panicking and in this short span of time I have flashed on multiple different things. Wasn't there just a story in the news about how the school I went to and used to cost $10,000 a year now costs $20,000? We only have eight years to save. Will she be able to commute from home? How much change is in my couch?
Somewhere in the fog of my brain I hear Bella say "It's where Nicole wants to go."
That phrase flips a switch in my head and the voices are quickly silenced. This just came about because Bella wants to go where her friend wants to go? It's just a phase. She'll get over it. Just to be on the safe side though, would you like to give to the Bella wants to go to an expensive college fund?
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Bestest Day Ever
Many of you know Julia and know that we refer to her as "a party in a box." Julia can find the fun in watching a slug move at 1 mph on the sidewalk. She definitely enjoys life and is thrilled at the smallest things. One thing she has started doing about once a week is announcing that "today was the bestest day of my life!"
Last week she had the bestest day ever because she got not one, but two bags of fruit snacks at preschool. The week before that it was because she got to play with her friend Halle from Tipton. One week it was because we bought her ice cream after church.
This philosophy of Julia's has had me thinking a lot lately. At first I just thought it was cute and thought about the innocence of children with no worries in their lives. After a while I started to get jealous that she could have so many bestest days ever. I mean, how many of us when asked what the best day of our life was have to go back years and only look for the most monumental things.
We often respond with "the day my children were born" (this answer is a must if it is your children who ask the question), "the day I got married" (said if your spouse is standing nearby when the question is asked), "the day I went to Disney World" (said because Disney is supposed to be the happiest place on earth), or "the day I stood on top of a mountain and just marveled at the beauty of it all" (said to impress people and to let them know you stood on top of a mountain).
What would life be like for all of us if we had the bestest day ever at least once a week? What if we tried to find so much joy in just having our favorite snack, talking to a friend or just sitting with a glass of wine and enjoying five minutes of quiet? I have realized that it is just a matter of attitude, it's just a matter of looking back on your day and finding one thing that made you smile.
Next time someone asks you what the best day of your life was don't stand there rolling your eyes into the back of your head for ten minutes and doing a mini regression therapy session, flashing back through your life. The older you get the longer this takes. Just look back in the past week of your life and surprise them with something like "yesterday because my sister called and we had a wonderful talk", or "last Thursday because the sun was shining and I ate my first dripping ice cream cone of the season".
If we all actively look for the bestest day of our lives every day wouldn't we enjoy life and all the little things just a little bit more?
Last week she had the bestest day ever because she got not one, but two bags of fruit snacks at preschool. The week before that it was because she got to play with her friend Halle from Tipton. One week it was because we bought her ice cream after church.
This philosophy of Julia's has had me thinking a lot lately. At first I just thought it was cute and thought about the innocence of children with no worries in their lives. After a while I started to get jealous that she could have so many bestest days ever. I mean, how many of us when asked what the best day of our life was have to go back years and only look for the most monumental things.
We often respond with "the day my children were born" (this answer is a must if it is your children who ask the question), "the day I got married" (said if your spouse is standing nearby when the question is asked), "the day I went to Disney World" (said because Disney is supposed to be the happiest place on earth), or "the day I stood on top of a mountain and just marveled at the beauty of it all" (said to impress people and to let them know you stood on top of a mountain).
What would life be like for all of us if we had the bestest day ever at least once a week? What if we tried to find so much joy in just having our favorite snack, talking to a friend or just sitting with a glass of wine and enjoying five minutes of quiet? I have realized that it is just a matter of attitude, it's just a matter of looking back on your day and finding one thing that made you smile.
Next time someone asks you what the best day of your life was don't stand there rolling your eyes into the back of your head for ten minutes and doing a mini regression therapy session, flashing back through your life. The older you get the longer this takes. Just look back in the past week of your life and surprise them with something like "yesterday because my sister called and we had a wonderful talk", or "last Thursday because the sun was shining and I ate my first dripping ice cream cone of the season".
If we all actively look for the bestest day of our lives every day wouldn't we enjoy life and all the little things just a little bit more?
Monday, April 21, 2008
What is a Julia?
Julia is a girl who watches TV upside down, plays games like "Captain Underpants" and "Super Diaper Baby".She's a monkey. (posted by bella)
It Came, It Saw, It Kicked My Butt
I have toiled, I have fought and I have worked off about 10 pounds trying to defeat it (or I would have if I didn't keep using my hard work as an excuse to devour yet another pint of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream). What is this terrible force that has beaten me down and knocked me out for the count? Mother Nature.
Mother Nature and I have always had an understanding. I would lecture everyone I encountered in life on the virtues of recycling and the evils of styrofoam and good old MN would whip up one heck of storm and blow all of the leaves in my yard into a neat pile against my garage thus saving me the work and tediousness of having to rake them up myself. This was a great arrangement unless you were my former neighbor Ginger who always worked so hard in her yard raking only to wake up one morning and find all of my leaves neatly piled in my yard or thoroughly scattered through hers. (Sorry Ginger)
This arrangement has worked so well throughout the years that I thought it would follow me as Gary and I moved our family right into the middle of nature. Our house came complete with 6 large flower beds and countless other small ones already planted and gorgeous. All I had to do was wait and see what came up right? Wrong. After 128 days of snow and ice I was finally ready to see my beautiful yard. Unfortunately it was totally covered in leaves.
Alright, I thought, I will give good old MN a break and rake because she had one heck of a winter. I then commenced to use a leaf blower, two different sized rakes and free child labor (the labor laws don't count if their yours) to clean up my yard. I put in more hours of work on this one yard that I have only owned since November than I have on all the properties we have owned since 1998. It looked beautiful. The next morning I wake up to one heck of a wind and my flower beds and yard covered in leaves.
What the heck? Where was our bargain? Did I not laugh hard enough at the man from Direct TV who asked me if I was willing to cut down some trees to get reception? Did I not tell my kids that the trees around our house took priority over watching TV? I mean this was a bold move on my part. We would have nothing to watch on TV except for movies we owned or watched because there is no cable this area, no dish possibilities and no antennae reception. As far as my children were concerned we already live in the dark ages because we only own one TV and it's not even a flat screen.
I forgave MN figuring she was getting back at me for buying a gas guzzling large SUV that is the poster child for American Conspicuous Consumption and commenced raking once again thus doubling my former yard work record from the weekend before. Wonderfully exhausted I decided to sit on my deck and enjoy the view content in the knowledge that people would see a wonderfully manicured lawn and flower bed when they came over. As I sat there in the quiet hearing the occasional bird call I heard a lot of rustling. I assumed it was our resident fat squirrel and looked up to see the largest oak leaf for miles around falling through the trees.
My first thought was that I didn't know leaves could be so loud when they fell, I mean it sounded like a wild boar running through the underbrush. As I watched it bounce from branch to branch I realized it was heading right for my lawn. Sure enough it landed square in the middle of the grass mocking me and shaking in the breeze with suppressed laughter. I was so furious that I actually tried to track it's path backwards to locate the offending tree it had come from so I could cut it down.
It has been a week since that leaf fell and I find myself once again raking leaves into the woods. As I was raking I came to realize the Mother Nature was just making me aware that I have not bought a house that has trees as an accessory. I am paying a bank monthly for the privilege of living among nature at her mercy. By living in the woods I have to realize that I can not conquer the woods. So if you come visit don't be surprised if you pull into the driveway only to see a wall of green with what looks like a deer trail that might lead you to our door.
Mother Nature and I have always had an understanding. I would lecture everyone I encountered in life on the virtues of recycling and the evils of styrofoam and good old MN would whip up one heck of storm and blow all of the leaves in my yard into a neat pile against my garage thus saving me the work and tediousness of having to rake them up myself. This was a great arrangement unless you were my former neighbor Ginger who always worked so hard in her yard raking only to wake up one morning and find all of my leaves neatly piled in my yard or thoroughly scattered through hers. (Sorry Ginger)
This arrangement has worked so well throughout the years that I thought it would follow me as Gary and I moved our family right into the middle of nature. Our house came complete with 6 large flower beds and countless other small ones already planted and gorgeous. All I had to do was wait and see what came up right? Wrong. After 128 days of snow and ice I was finally ready to see my beautiful yard. Unfortunately it was totally covered in leaves.
Alright, I thought, I will give good old MN a break and rake because she had one heck of a winter. I then commenced to use a leaf blower, two different sized rakes and free child labor (the labor laws don't count if their yours) to clean up my yard. I put in more hours of work on this one yard that I have only owned since November than I have on all the properties we have owned since 1998. It looked beautiful. The next morning I wake up to one heck of a wind and my flower beds and yard covered in leaves.
What the heck? Where was our bargain? Did I not laugh hard enough at the man from Direct TV who asked me if I was willing to cut down some trees to get reception? Did I not tell my kids that the trees around our house took priority over watching TV? I mean this was a bold move on my part. We would have nothing to watch on TV except for movies we owned or watched because there is no cable this area, no dish possibilities and no antennae reception. As far as my children were concerned we already live in the dark ages because we only own one TV and it's not even a flat screen.
I forgave MN figuring she was getting back at me for buying a gas guzzling large SUV that is the poster child for American Conspicuous Consumption and commenced raking once again thus doubling my former yard work record from the weekend before. Wonderfully exhausted I decided to sit on my deck and enjoy the view content in the knowledge that people would see a wonderfully manicured lawn and flower bed when they came over. As I sat there in the quiet hearing the occasional bird call I heard a lot of rustling. I assumed it was our resident fat squirrel and looked up to see the largest oak leaf for miles around falling through the trees.
My first thought was that I didn't know leaves could be so loud when they fell, I mean it sounded like a wild boar running through the underbrush. As I watched it bounce from branch to branch I realized it was heading right for my lawn. Sure enough it landed square in the middle of the grass mocking me and shaking in the breeze with suppressed laughter. I was so furious that I actually tried to track it's path backwards to locate the offending tree it had come from so I could cut it down.
It has been a week since that leaf fell and I find myself once again raking leaves into the woods. As I was raking I came to realize the Mother Nature was just making me aware that I have not bought a house that has trees as an accessory. I am paying a bank monthly for the privilege of living among nature at her mercy. By living in the woods I have to realize that I can not conquer the woods. So if you come visit don't be surprised if you pull into the driveway only to see a wall of green with what looks like a deer trail that might lead you to our door.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Why Shopping Alone is a Luxury
I have decided to post this story so every time Gary suggests I take the kids shopping with me and I give him the bug eyed are you crazy look he can just read this and understand.
So I took Bella with me to run some errands and have some fun girl time. Andrew needed a nice shirt and while we were at the store I decided to try on a dress. Now Julia is only five so you can expect to be telling her every other second that she can not unlock and open the door while you are in your underwear. Bella is eight, so really what could happen in the dressing room. Unfortunately Bella likes to talk (I don't know where she gets it) and she loves to asks questions and she does it very loudly. After watching me Bella very loudly says "Mom what are those scars on your side?"
I very calmly and quietly tell her that they are stretch marks.
"But you have more over there mom! And look, there are some on your legs too!" By now everyone in the dressing room is being treated to a detailed account on the location and size of my stretch marks. "How did you get so many?"
I just calmly look at her and say, "Well, I have three kids and each of you added more."
I quickly poke my head out to make sure no one is looking and run out of there as I listen to the quiet laughing coming out of the other rooms. You would think I would know better by now. This is not the first time this has happened. Here is a sampling of other things said loudly for all to hear.
"Mom, that looks a little tight. Maybe I should get you a bigger size."
"Mom, why do you have boobs?"
"Mom, why do your feet look like that? I think you need some lotion."
"Mom, I like how your thighs jiggle." (said while Andrew is pushing on them)
I think you get the idea. From now on, I am shopping alone.
So I took Bella with me to run some errands and have some fun girl time. Andrew needed a nice shirt and while we were at the store I decided to try on a dress. Now Julia is only five so you can expect to be telling her every other second that she can not unlock and open the door while you are in your underwear. Bella is eight, so really what could happen in the dressing room. Unfortunately Bella likes to talk (I don't know where she gets it) and she loves to asks questions and she does it very loudly. After watching me Bella very loudly says "Mom what are those scars on your side?"
I very calmly and quietly tell her that they are stretch marks.
"But you have more over there mom! And look, there are some on your legs too!" By now everyone in the dressing room is being treated to a detailed account on the location and size of my stretch marks. "How did you get so many?"
I just calmly look at her and say, "Well, I have three kids and each of you added more."
I quickly poke my head out to make sure no one is looking and run out of there as I listen to the quiet laughing coming out of the other rooms. You would think I would know better by now. This is not the first time this has happened. Here is a sampling of other things said loudly for all to hear.
"Mom, that looks a little tight. Maybe I should get you a bigger size."
"Mom, why do you have boobs?"
"Mom, why do your feet look like that? I think you need some lotion."
"Mom, I like how your thighs jiggle." (said while Andrew is pushing on them)
I think you get the idea. From now on, I am shopping alone.
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