My Middle Child

I love him.





Peace Out.

Hoo Hoo

Sorry I haven't posted lately...I've mostly been...lazy. :) A little under the weather, preoccupied with abstract algebra, and...those are my only excuses.

Anyway...in order to get back into the swing of things, I want to share some photos I took at my parents' house last weekend.

You may remember the owl who was unknowingly my subject earlier this winter. I think this may be a younger relative of that avian beauty.





He winked at me. :)

Below the owl, on the ground, are pellets. Do you all remember ever dissecting owl pellets in school? I find them fascinating. Dissecting was my favorite part of science...and my favorite part of teaching science.

Lost is tonight...for those of you who care. :)

XOXO

Happy Valentine's Day!

LOST

So, tonight's episode was pretty great, I think. :)

Let's review:

First...I took note of Ben's van. It reads "Canton-Rainier" Carpet Cleaning. It just so happens that "Canton-Rainier" is an anagram of "reincarnation". I can never find these things out on my own. But, I knew that if I Googled it, I'd find that it was an anagram.


So...what next?

Daniel & Charlotte:

I am excited to get some insight into Charlotte's background. Her mention of Daniel being the creepy guy from the island who told her not to come back, because she'd die...I think that it might be one of those weird unexplainable time things. Daniel seemed confused when Charlotte "accused" him of being the scary man. Maybe that's because it's future (on the island...on the show) that Daniel meets little girl Charlotte (in the past...during a flash), and since he knows she will die, he warns her not to come back.

It gets so confusing talking about time travel... :)

So...I just looked up some more on Daniel and Charlotte, and it may be possible that Daniel is Charlotte's father. This would explain his affection for her... Also, he has shown on several occasions that he has trouble with his memory...so he may not remember exactly what his relationship to Charlotte is....just something to think about.

Christian Shepherd:

He's said before that he is not Jacob, right? He seems to be in charge a bit though...eh?

Danielle Rousseau:


I don't think she relayed to the Losties that she actually killed her husband. She said (and mentioned in this episode) that they were infected. We assumed after the episode 2 weeks ago that they had radiation poisoning, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe they were just "infected" by the others in the same way that, say...Cindy, the flight attendant was...or even Locke. They had a change of mind/heart. BUT...why the heck was he going to shoot Danielle?...Well...the Others do things like that. They just seem to oppose some people (especially pregnant people) to the death.

Ben:

He must have known that when Jacob said John had to move the island, that meant JOHN had to move the island. What the heck was he thinking? He has a motivation for everything. What was his motivation?

Sawyer:
Wasn't it cute how excited he was to see Jin? He just doesn't show emotion, you know...so it was nice. :)

That's all I have for now...I'm sure I'll think of more while I'm trying to get to sleep in a half hour...so I'll touch on those future thoughts later, I guess. :)

My latest idea is that all the Losties crashed on the island so as to get a second chance at death...you know, die right. Some of them found their "good" ways to die already...but others have not. Just an idea.

LOST in the News

Seeing as how today is LOST day, and I didn't post about LOST last week (sort of a lame episode), I thought I'd share this article CNN published yesterday... It's kind of fun. :)

Read article here.

Book Recommendations for Little Kids

I usually blog at night. But, I'm currently a little behind on my math homework,and since it's a bit easier to blog with the kids at my heels than it is to do abstract algebra, I'm going to try to reserve the evening hours for homework. This means a mid-day blog post. I'm really venturing outside of my comfort zone! :)

I was participating in Operation Playtime a couple weeks ago, but of course I did not finish all 12 days. But...I'm going to....a little late, that's all. :)

So...here's Day 4: Book Marathon.

I try to have some book-reading time each day with my boys. We go to the library each week, and we bring home a new load of books to explore during that week.

These are the books we brought home this week:

I always pick out one Dr. Seuss book each week, and I try to get one ABC book as I'm trying to teach the boys their ABC's and letter sounds. The rest are chosen randomly. :)

Here are a few I've come across that I love to read over and over! See if you can find them at your local library. I think you'll enjoy them too!

This is an ABC book full of hilarious puns and great illustrations! Great entertainment for kids and adults!
We own this one. It's written from a kid's perspective. The boy is always saying how wonderful his mother is while the illustrations show a mom we can all relate to: disorganized, messy, tired, etc. It's encouraging. :)

This is one that we got this week. Another great ABC book with more "plays on words". It makes me smile. :)

A note: The ABC books are great, because, now that the boys know their ABC's better, they can read these books to me! That makes them pretty proud.

This may be my all time favorite. The book is about a child who asks his/her mother, "Mama, would you still love me even if I was....". And, of course, the mother says over and over, that no matter what the child is or does, the mother will ALWAYS love him. It's a great unconditional love story.
My favorite Dr. Seuss for sure. It's so catchy! Every time we see a train, the boys and I quote (to the best of our ability) the part that says, "A train! A train! A train! A train! Would you, could you on a train??" It's so fun!

I'll list more books later. Check out Operation Playtime if you get a chance.

More Advantages of Having Kids

Last month, I wrote a funny little post about the benefits of having kids. I may have been a bit silly in that post, but honestly, every day I spend with my kids, I think of all the ways they improve my life.

From my own experience and what I have observed around me, being a young mom can be very intimidating and overwhelming.

The biggest adjustment period for me was the short time that my first boy was our only little one. The moment he was born, my life changed more drastically than I had ever experienced. My purpose and identity changed overnight. I started to realize that, even though I'd always wanted to be a mom, I actually had no idea what I was in for. And, I wasn't sure I was cut out for it.

When my boy was only 7 months old, I found out I was pregnant with our 2nd baby. As you can imagine, I was a little freaked out. I hadn't even come to grips with being a mom to ONE baby, let alone TWO!


Long story short....I was pleasantly surprised to find that my second child made being a mom so much easier for me. And, when our baby girl was added to the mix last summer, the joy of motherhood was multiplied again.

I'll share more in a series of posts about the advantages of having kids. :)

For now, just have a look at these little cherubs, and I think you'll start to get a feel for what I'm talking about.

I am truly the happiest I've ever been.

Oh My Goodness..

My "baby" boy has been saying the cutest things, and I've been meaning to document them before he starts sounding more "mature". :)

The notable quote in this one is "Oh, my goodness...huge!". He says "Oh, my goodness.." a lot. It's so cute! He also says "Ya.." like he's German or something. Oh, wait...much of him IS German. I guess the "Ya" might be in German genes. (Is is Dja...or Ja...any help?...Grace?)

In other news, I made a second Apron for the boy above. He put it on, said he didn't like it, and took it off. My feelings were not hurt. :) I think he'll like it later. If not...I still like it. :)

Success!

This is what I did today.
I made this cute apron for my oldest boy. I figured he could use it while he helps me cook and when he paints on his easel. I got the pattern for free here. (Thanks for the link, Melanie!).


I'm happy with it. :) I'm making a train-themed apron for my other little guy. I'll show it to you when it's complete.

My house is now in shambles...I must go clean it.

Thief

I'm trying something new today. The One-Minute Writer gives writing prompts each day. Today's prompt is "Thief". I'm supposed to write about something I stole.

I stole lemon drops once. Not from a store. From a fellow missionary who was ministering with me in Kenya. She let me borrow her tent to read in while she was out on a safari. While I was sitting there, I saw a bag of lemon drops. How often do you see lemon drops in the Masai Mara in Kenya? At the time, it felt like it had been years since I had tasted candy...and like I may never taste it again. It may have been my last chance. So, I ate a few...not really sure how many actually.

But...the nice missionary girl must have been keeping pretty good inventory, because when she returned, she confronted me about the missing lemon drops.

Oops.

Don't they look yummy?? :)

Try These Cookies

I've been tweaking this cookie recipe for a couple months now.
It's low(er) calorie...and YUMMY! :)
Try it.

1/2 c. butter, softened (1 stick)
1/3 c. applesauce (This replaces the usual 2nd stick of butter)
2/3 c. Splenda (instead of sugar...Splenda=0 calories)
2/3 c. brown sugar packed
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. instant oatmeal
About 1/3 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

When I make them from my relatively high altitude home, the cookies turn out big and soft. It might be different if you're closer to sea level.

I usually spoon the cookies out so that I get about 22 cookies per batch (kind of big).

I did the calculations, and figured that if I made the cookies with 2 sticks of butter and real sugar, each cookie would be about 205 calories. But, with the applesauce and Splenda substitutes, each cookie is about 140 calories.

Plus, they truly taste better the low-calorie way. That makes these cookies THE BEST!!

Let me know what you think..

The One and Only...

Now presenting, the one and only....
Crawl-a-Sister!
...or is it Crawl-Assistor??

You'll have to ask my hubby...the one who designed and created the contraption. It's meant to help the 'sister' become more comfortable in the crawling position, and maybe eventually...crawl. :)


I love being married to a creative handyman!