Validation

I made a few cards recently.....Some don't scan well if they have embellishments that stick out....I guess I have a little blue mark on my scanner - I need to clean that off! :) This one says: Wishing You the Best of Birthdays This one is making use of some awesome, bird-themed stickers I bought. I found some metal hardware to frame this nest sticker, and punched out some tiny letters....The little bird footprints are part of a clear stamp set...

I changed my blog colors, since the other ones were so Christmasy. I almost hated doing it, because it means Christmas is over. I hate taking down decorations, too. I try to leave them up as long as possible. The Christmas decorations are still up in my house. I got a fake tree, so I could put one up right after Thanksgiving, and leave it up after New Year's. I also leave birthday decorations up for awhile, too. Crepe paper, balloons, etc. It stays up until my husband starts asking about taking them down.... I also don't put away my suitcase after a vacation. It stays there, with stuff in it-until, once again, my husband starts asking when I'm going to put it away. I think he's used to me now, and patiently allows a certain window of time for leaving stuff out. I guess I just want to hold on to the happy moments - the experiences, and not admit they're over......

I have to share something new I learned last night at church. Our pastor was gone, and one of our other pastors, Yoel, shared a great message. (We are very blessed to have awesome speakers who can fill in when our main pastor is gone). Yoel was talking about how the Holy Spirit empowers us to live for God. And, one way He does that is empowers us to be "sincere." This is one of the verses shared with that bullet point: "And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." Phil. 1:9-11 (NKJV). The word "sincere" was emphasized by Yoel, and this is what he explained about the word. The word literally means "judged by light." It is a term used in making pottery. In those d...

From the looks of the other blogs I read, there's not a lot being written - especially me! I've been trying not to be on the computer that much, with my family home. All of us are on vacation from work and school, so it's been nice chillin' with everybody. The other day, we went to a museum, which was a nice change, and it got us out of the house. My son has wanted lots of cuddling and game-playing. We've been playing Battleship and Aggravation. I have also built some Lego creations with him. We've watched some family movies like Evan Almighty and Hairspray. The girls got to spend some time with friends in the last couple of days, too. Yesterday, I started getting the "it's almost time to get back into a routine" organization bug. I went through Ben's room, my desk, the office desk, etc. and got rid of a bunch of junk. I made out our family "week at a glance" calendar for the fridge, so we could all get an idea of what our s...

Yesterday, we arrived home after spending one night at my mom's house. It's about a 2.5 hour drive to get there, and a beautiful one. We think we saw a seal swimming next to the bridge, and we saw a bald eagle, too. The Puget Sound region is beautiful, especially now, with the Cascades dusted with snow. We got to see my grandfather who is almost 93! We had four generations sitting around the table eating homemade chicken and noodles. Mmmmmm. My mom made three kinds of pies, and we brought some Christmas cookies. My grandfather talked about his younger days of learning the plumbing business, first working in Seattle, and then starting his own plumbing store/business in Port Angeles, which operated for 23 years. Since his stroke, he has a little bit of speech difficulty, but it certainly doesn't stop him from sharing, which I'm glad. As we were eating, he stopped, and said emphatically, "We are truly blessed." Then, my mom stopped and said how wonderfu...

I have presents under the tree now! I'm so excited. Are you getting excited for Christmas?!?!

I helped in Ben's classroom yesterday. I was so glad to get a chance to come in, because I know it means so much to Ben. First grade is quite different from the first grade I remember! It is quite academic, and those kids were working hard from the morning until I left at lunchtime. She had such control of the classroom, and those kids were amazing at staying on task. She is a very business-like teacher, but would always give an encouraging word to each and every child. I corrected and filed papers, as well as cut out some crowns from construction paper. I just sort of tuned my ears to what was going on in the class while I performed the busy work. I got a kick out of calendar time, when the teacher got out a puppet and used a funny voice. At lunchtime, I took a chair to sit next to Ben. I swear, I had three children talking to me at once the entire time. They wanted to tell me all sorts of things - it was hilarious! I heard about how tall their parents are, about their b...

My husband wanted to by a new stereo for a "joint gift" this Christmas. I bought a Bose stereo online and we received it yesterday. It's cool, because our old one didn't play CD's anymore, and we finally bought a quality stereo (even if it is the bottom of the line one). I'm just not a huge technology girl. I don't have to have the latest and greatest. I would have been happy with another Wal-Mart cheapo stereo, but my husband really wanted it, and I thought he should have something quality to enjoy. Enjoy the "fruit of his labor" and all that....... The thing is-I hate "joint gifts." Dang it - I want presents to open!! I like feeling like a little kid on Christmas morning, being all excited to open presents. My husband said not to get him anything, and he would get me a couple of little things. Whenever my husband says this, I do what he says, and he ends up spending more on me than just "little things." We'll ...

Now, aren't these some good-lookin' kids? These pics were taken the other day to send out with our Christmas letter. Yes, I write one of those annoying Christmas letters every year. I can't help it. I personally enjoy receiving them, thank you very much......It's the highlight of my every day in December - to find cards and pics in the mailbox. Then, we put up all of the pictures we receive on the fridge for a couple of months. I like walking by and thinking of the families, and the memories associated with them... I had a hard time getting my kids to give me smiles instead of goofy faces. Here they are making "Surprise Snowballs." They're a simple dough cookie with surprises inside, like jelly beans and M 'n M's.....Ben even tried getting four jelly beans in one! This is how I found Ben asleep on his bed, after all the festivities. What a loved bear, huh?

I follow politics only a little. I am not a complete political illiterate, but I am certainly not qualified to get into any debates. I do know this. I swear, if Hillary Clinton is somehow, some way, elected as President of the United States, I will not turn on my TV for four years. I could hardly listen to her husband on TV, much less her!! I simply can't fathom that woman as president. The thought disgusts me.

I was shopping today, and thinking about what a sensitive shnoz I have. I mean, I have a very sensitive smeller. There are things in this world that I can smell, that other people probably don't. And, there are things in this world that I wish I couldn't smell. Here are some: 1. People's dirty hair. 2. Dirty, nicotine-laden coat. 3. Asian food breath. 4. Sweaty feet in flip-flops. 5. Morning stink. 6. Rave hairspray 7. Cheap shaving cream 8. Old, wet, leather boots. 9. Elementary school right after lunch was served. 10. Motel carpet. There are some wonderful smells, though. These are some of my fav's: 1. Pavement immediately after it starts raining. 2. A house after someone cooked with garlic. 3. Freshly cut pine lumber. 4. Lavender growing fresh outside. 5. Apple Jolly Rancher 6. Antique wooden furniture. 7. Drakkar cologne. 8. The smell of dirt when pulling weeds. 9. A leather Bible. 10. Presents my grandmother sent me in the mail.

Well, I'm on my Christmas break from school, and guess what happens-I get sick. Great. I was at Wal-Mart re-stocking my empty cupboards, when I started going downhill. I got up to the checkout counter and one of my milk cartons was leaking. The gal wanted me to go back and get a new one, and I said I was really feeling crappy, so I wasn't going to. She asked me if I wanted help out, and I waited on a bench for a very long time. She finally closed up her register, slapped on her jacket, and helped me out herself, she felt so bad for me. Wow. Good customer service at Wal-Mart. That's a first. Anyway, I'm going to have to do some quick catching up on things after laying low for a couple of days. Today, the kids and I are going to make Christmas cookies. Then, maybe I can have those friends over this next week for cookies and lattes. Oh-the cookies. I have this beautiful, cookie cookbook by Better Homes and Gardens. On one side are gorgeous, anytime cookies. ...

I got my official Fall Quarter grades this morning! I got a 4.0 out of Anatomy and Physiology Lecture, and a 4.0 out of the Lab. I got a 3.3 (B+) out of Physics, which is way better than I ever thought I would end up, but for the record, I think I deserve an A-. Anyway, YAY FOR ME! I'm so proud of myself. I worked dang hard.

I am so proud of myself!! As of 11:00 this morning, I have completed all of my final exams! I have worked extremely hard, and here's one of my rewards: This is the top portion of my lab practical that I picked up this morning. YES!! My professor said that I was one of 3 who got 100%!!! Then, he said that I have a 108% out of Anatomy and Physiology Lab!!! Now, that's what I call a payoff. This morning I took my A&P lecture exam. It was tough, but I think I did pretty well. As of the other day, I had a 97% out of the class, but that was before a quiz and the final exam. I'll have to wait until Monday for my final grade. Last night, was the Physics test. That class was pure torture all the way, so boy, did it feel good to finish it!!! I even pleaded my case with the professor about the overall grade I thought I deserved. I won't go into too much boring detail, but I have spent so many hours travelling back and forth to get help (during the professor's ...

OK. Real quick. Every day except Tuesday this week I've had a test. I nailed my lab practical today. YES! Tomorrow is my last Physics exam. Not super high hopes there. Then, Friday is my big A&P final! I think I will do well. I try not to have too much confidence - just study my butt off and trust God for the rest. Then, thank Him for the good grades. :) Amanda is driving now! She went on her first solo drive this morning to her "devos" group at Starbucks. The Lord's going to be hearing lots of quickie prayers from me every time she goes out the door. Melanie is at her first gymnastics meet tonight. Her dad went to see her. She is doing a beam routine. With Ben in AWANA on the same night as her meets, Joe and I are going to tag team it if it's an away meet (like tonight). I'm kind of sad to miss the first one, though. :( Ben is going to be tested for the "highly capable" program in our school district. His teacher wanted me to ...

I had something happen yesterday that I was especially brokenhearted about. I just couldn't stop crying about it. My son hugged me at one point. My girls hugged me at other points. My husband hugged me too. My son said that if I drink milk when I'm sad it will help me forget about it. He said that when he was sad on a Monday, he kept drinking milk and on Saturday, he just forgot all about it. I wonder if he made this up on the fly to come up with a way to make me feel better. Or, I also wonder if he chose milk because he was my longest breastfed baby. HAHA! :)

I was just chillin' with my latte and watching a guy catch a fish in a river on TV. Ben was sitting with me, and I said "Doesn't that look so fun to be standing on the river fishing?" He said "Yeah." A couple of seconds later, he said "Wouldn't it be cool if the TV was a portal, and if you saw somewhere you wanted to go, you could just jump in?" I said, "Yeah!" Then, he proceeded to pretend to jump into the fishing show, so I pretended it was him who was catching a fish just then. "Look! Ben got one!" I said. Then, he had to jump back home, so he said, "Pretend you don't see me, K?" And he jumped back home with a whooshing sound (had to have the sound effects, right?)

The other day, Ben said that he has a plan for when he is a Dad. He says that everyday at 4:00, he is going to take his children to the park. He also wonders why there are earthquakes, and what happens to make them. He also wants to know why the people on the other side of the Earth aren't upside-down. And, why doesn't the Earth ever turn (rotate) the other way? How does Santa get in if all the windows and doors are locked? (We don't have a fireplace). If we're out shopping together, and I see something I want to buy for him, I can just buy it, and he will pretend it is a surprise when he opens it on Christmas.