What could have been....

I don't know if anyone else every walks down memory lane, since the year is ending, it is always a good time to wax nostalgic.

Growing up, I knew exactly the type of man I would marry. He would be blond, incredibly good looking, perfect teeth, and very preppy. After he was done growing up, he would see the error of his ways from chasing "models" and attention starved children, to see that I was perfect wife material.

Together, we would explore the world, one country at a time, and I would be whisked to exotic places like California, and New Hampshire. And we would have perfect blond haired, blue eyed children, and life would be perfect. He would be athletic, and did I mention preppy?  Totally dug preppy. They were the "good" boys.

And the man I did marry?

Blond?  Nope, except as an infant
Incredibly good looking? To me, yes, Check
Perfect teeth? Um, not exactly, but mine aren't either, and dental insurance rocks
Preppy? Never in a million years

Exotic Travel?  Kind of, but only through hard work, no whisking away here.
Perfect blond haired, blue eyed children?  Nope, but I did get perfect for me children with the MOST beautiful brown eyes, the kind you want to melt into. (And impossible to say no to, I might add.)
Athletic?  As in, likes watching?  Then check.
Preppy?  Again, heck no.

So, in a typical movie, here would be the segue into what the "other" guy is doing. Scanning through hundreds of "potentials" on the internet, this is what my "dream" husband is up to these days...

 - Taking constant pictures of himself.
 - Fake tanning, and bleaching his teeth.
 - Still chasing the perfect woman
 - Spending obscene amounts of money on things I would hate
 - Showing off children to ensure that "Hey, see how much they look like me?"

My actual husband is....

 - Being a good father to our two children
 - Supporting me in my day to day activities, and constantly building me up
 - Showing me what it means to be a loving partner, spouse, and man of God
 - Showing me exotic adventures, even if it is just picking up toys at the end of a long day
 - Being my best friend.

So, if you ever even think that God doesn't know what he is doing, trust me, He does.

I love you Mike!

Introducing.....

I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family. Starsky is his name,and mischevious is his game.

Okay - a little backstory.....

Starsky got his name from me. I know that the kids are supposed to name them, but frankly, I want a dog, and I told Mike that if we EVER get a dog, I am naming him Starsky. Or Hutch. Not sure yet. Since Mike has made it clear that we will NOT be getting a dog (he is pretty smart, and know he would end up taking care of it), the elf inherited the name. So THERE!

Anyway, Starsky came at the end of November, and has been a sneaky little elf the entire time.  At first he was shy, and stuck to our living room.

But then....he just got sneaky......

And then he did it....... Jaina was SO mad..... he "wrapped" our tree in Toilet Paper....

Naughty little elf.....

Wonder where all of that creativity comes from?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! (Yes I am shouting because I like to keep the CHRIST in Christmas.)

Here is my little analogy for keeping Christ in Christmas......

So you take Christ out of Christmas and replace it with X-Mas.

Hmmm okay.... X, for What?

Oh right, for Cross-Mas....  So nice try nay-sayers. You cannot take Christ, or the Cross, out of Christmas.



So what is new with you?

What is new with us?  Not much, it has been a pretty typical December.   Busy Busy Busy with all sorts of things Christmas related, and trying to get other stuff done in between.

So, to go back a few steps.  Jackson has never been a super happy kid. Since 6 weeks old, he has been CRABBY.  There are a lot of days in which this feels like ALL he is. To be completely truthful, there are a lot of times I have difficulty remembering when he was NOT crabby.

But he turned 1, and I thought we might turn a corner. Turned out he had some pretty severe reflux, and because it had gone on a long time, he had some pain. Several weeks of therapy later, and he started eating pudding.  For those of you who have never had to experience this, this is actually progress. And now we have moved on to a lot of other things, but he has NEVER been a huge eater.

So we move to this weekend. Jackson was crabby (not all that surprising), not sleeping through the night (Jaina did this at a similar age), and not eating (again, reflux.)  So I thought we would get through it, but he just kept getting worse. So I took him to accute care, and lo and behold, he has strep. 

The guilt I feel is pretty strong. Where were my instincts? Why did I not think to check it out this weekend?  Why did I wait until Mike told me?

I try not to beat myself up too much. We do the best we can, right?

Anyway, that's where my head is at this evening. Sorry for the downer.

Someday, they will pose

This is what happens when attempting to take pictures of my sassy, photogenic-but-dont-yet-know-it children.

(Jaina actually likes to pose, in case you couldn't tell)

Finally, I got one I decided to use......

Merry Christmas!

iPhone pics

I can't help it, I know it is completely overdone, but I wanted to show you some of my great pictures from my iphone. Maybe I will start doing this on Fridays, because the illiteration? (not sure if that is the right english term or not) is TOO.MUCH.FUN

 

Happy Halloween!

This is the year we finally did it.

For those of you that recall, Jaina is named after a very special Jedi.

So this year, I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween. And similar to five out of her last six years (first did not count), she wanted to be a princess.

I am SO tired of pink princesses. So I plead with her to consider another princess, a very special princess, a namesake princess.  And I used her Aunt Sara to help.

Without a doubt, we both have married two brothers (yes Hunter, they REALLY ARE BROTHERS), who both love Star Wars. So, with a little coercion, and convincing that yes, she really was a princess, I convinced Jaina to be Princess Leia for Halloween.

And Sara convinced Leo to be Darth Vader, and together we decided that Jackson would be Yoda (as the short one), and Eli would be Luke Skywalker.

You would think this would be SO easy? right?  Yeah, for some reason, we have not learned with these four.

I put it in this retro 70's format to replicate the original time period of the movie. (That is complete crap, I just like how it looks.)

I rest assured someday, at their graduation parties, I WILL be showing this picture of the crazy things they did with their cousins, and if they had just all looked at the same time, they could have been spared the humiliation.

Have to have some perks, right?

Hope you  had a GREAT halloween!

Caplitalism sucks?

I just finished watching Capitalism, a Love Story by Michael Moore. (Which, by the way, I find very ironic since he is profiting from the very thing he claims to hate.)

Although I don't  have the $$ he has to do all of the research he does, I have a very valuable thing.. my gut. And I find when something doesn't pass the sniff test, there is usually something not right.

Some of the points he makes are very valid. There were a LOT of horrible things happening while the very people that were supposed to be protecting us turned their heads. 

However, whatever happened to some common sense on behalf of the American people. If you make only $14,000 a year, and are convinced you want to buy a house, ASK Questions! IF someone convinces you that you can afford a $250,000 house with no down payment, THEY ARE LYING. Unless you have been saving for oh, say 15 plus years. And never eating.

The simple fact is, there are GREEDY people in the world. It has been that way, since, I dunno, the Garden of Eden?  We are sinners, and I don't care if you are socialist, democrat, republican, capitalist, morman, Christian, Catholic, or agnostic, there are GREEDY people. And there is sin in the world, ergo, we have greedy people and sin. Seems like a volatile combination to me.

On the other hand, why should I expect anyone to bail me out of my own choices. I went to a pricey college. A pricey college that I am still paying for, 12 years later. And it is painful and embarrasing to write that check every month. But you know, I signed the papers. Was I fully aware at the age of 18 what I was signing up for? Maybe not, but that doesn't negate my responsibility.

Lately the concept of Jubilee has been thrown around as a way to solve the economy. This conocept, from the Old Testament, indicates that all debts are to be forgiven every 7 years. Although I see the benefits of it (completely self-serving,of course :)), there are a LOT of items to be considered, including:

• If we forgive all debts (even just a one time, not  even going every seven years), will America have learned anything? Without a change in behavior, we will be in the same place in approximately 24 months.
• How many jobs will be lost if we forgive all debts?  How many people are employed for those very debts?  Would we exacerbate the problem?
• I had another thought here, but i lost it......

Obviously, I have some strong opinions on this stuff. And simply put, they are MY opinions, and mine alone.  I could go on all day.

But overall, I will quote Wedding Crashers, "Grow up Peter Pan."  Let's focus on the real issues,and STOP focusing on who gets what.  Congress, anyone listening out there?

Isn't She lovely?

I can't help it.....

I think she is the MOST beautiful girl in the world.

I know I am biased. But man, isn't she gorgeous.

Although I recognize so many parts of me in her, I can't help but have hope that those things I see as flaws in myself can be strengths in her. She is [insert ANY adjective here]. She is all these things and more.

Who am I?

No, I am not going into some deep dark tirade and wax philosophical.

I have always felt I have compartmentalized myself into two, three different people, depending on who I was with, or where I was.

But lately I have been craving adventure. I think that my two or three people are starting to converge into one. I am sure that I have always been one person.

But I digress.

There are times, I feel incredibly confident.

For example, I had a presentation to make to a Senior Vice President. And it was nervewracking. Unbelieveably nerve wracking. The material was not only my material, but an enti,re groups' work, and I was the ring leader.

AND I NAILED IT.

The Senior VP was blown away.  She was impressed with our work, how I presented it, and the entire kit and kaboodle.

TRust me, there is more of this where that came from.